Carl Broman Concert Series Opens with Award-Winning Pianist

Mary Baldwin University’s Carl Broman Concert Series opens on September 30, as the award-winning pianist Ji-Yong takes the stage in Francis Auditorium. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a gifted, sensitive young pianist who is clearly going places,” this 22-year-old Korean artist has a compelling musical presence and a career that began when, at the age of 10, he was the youngest pianist to win the New York Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition.  Also a winner of the 2012 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, his busy 2013–14 concert season includes debut recitals at the Kennedy Center and in New York City.

Ji-Yong’s appealing program features some of Brahms’ most beautiful works (the op. 118 Intermezzi), along with J.S. Bach’s sparkling first Partita in B-flat Major and Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen. He will also perform one of the great Busoni transcriptions, along with the exciting and virtuosic La Valse of Ravel.  The brilliant La Valse is performed most often in its original form, as an orchestral work, and it is also frequently heard in Ravel’s own arrangement for two pianos.  Only a few pianists attempt the difficult solo piano version of this exciting piece.

Highly regarded in his native Korea, Ji-Yong appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony at Korea’s first outdoor classical concert.  He has performed with numerous other orchestras around the world, appeared in the PBS documentary “Prodigies and Masters of Tomorrow” (at age 16), and has recorded two CDs: Bach Exhibition and Lisztomania. He is also passionate about making classical music more accessible to young people. His recent creative projects include the “Stop & Listen” outdoor “guerrilla” performances, where he worked with renowned Korean pop-artist Tae Jung Kim to design the “Ji-T” piano, bringing classical music to the public on the busy streets of Seoul.  He has also collaborated with the Japanese electronic/house music singer FreeTEMPO.

Single tickets for Ji-Yong may be purchased at the door and are $20 for the general public, $15 for seniors, and $5 for students. Mary Baldwin students, faculty, and staff are free. Season tickets are also available online and at the door.  For more information call 540-887-7294 or go to go.marybaldwin.edu/arts/musicatmbc.