Yoon Kwon:
"I just think every child has a talent
and some talents are discovered
earlier than others."
Classical version:
Violinist joins symphony
By Tim Ryan
for Vivaldi
Star-BulletinVIOLINIST Yoon Kwon giggles when a reporter calls her "a former child prodigy."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true," Kwon, 18, says in a telephone interview from her rural New Jersey home. "I'm too old to be a prodigy anymore."
Not that you could tell by her childlike voice, which is very un-adult.
"I get that all the time," Kwon said. "People hear me and think I'm like 8 or something."
The violinist, who immigrated to the United States from Korea when she was 5, has been acclaimed as "masterful, mature and passionate beyond her years."
California Symphony Music Director Barry Jekowsky said, "There are a lot of kids who can knock your socks off. But there are only a few (like Kwon) who can pull on your heartstrings."
"Cool," she says non-prodigy-like.
Kwon really has never understood what a child prodigy is.
But some of those teachers who work with such kids offer this: A child with a rare and precocious ability to execute technically advanced pieces of music, rendering them with an expressiveness that would seem beyond their grasp.
"I guess," Kwon responds. "But I just think every child has a talent and some talents are discovered earlier than others. Those who get discovered real early are child prodigies."
Kwon makes her Hawaii debut with the Honolulu Symphony on Sunday and Tuesday, performing Vivaldi's most celebrated work, "The Four Seasons, Opus 8."
Kwon is enjoying spring break from studies at New York's Julliard School of Music but still is spending lots of time there, accompanying students who are auditioning to get in.
"Today was sorta busy," Kwon said. "I was playing all day the sonatas with the students. And I took a lesson from Miss Delay."
That's Dorothy Delay, 80, the beloved guru of choice for aspiring young musicians, who for more than 40 years has coached some of the world's greatest talents, including violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Midori, Gil Shaham, Nigel Kennedy and Sarah Chang.
"A musician is always learning and I'll never be as wise as Miss Delay," Kwon said. "And even if you become like (an Itzhak) Perlman, it's always great to play for people because everyone has a different outlook on something or a new idea."
DeLay said Kwon reminds her of Perlman when he was a young student, emitting the same level of interpretive maturity and emotion that just a few string players will achieve in a lifetime of playing.
Kwon began studying piano at age 3, the violin at 6. Her mother was a music major in college and had a music kindergarten in her home.
"My (older) sister played the piano before I was born and with the music kindergarten I was always listening to music, even before I knew anything," Kwon said.
Since her sister already was playing piano, her mom suggested that Yoon play the violin. It started off as "a hobby to pass the day," Kwon said.
"When I was 8, we, well I guess my mom, thought it would be good if I auditioned for Julliard. I did, I made it, here I am."
Kwon insists that she leads "a normal life."
"Of course I am in a music conservatory, so I get to miss things like math homework and chemistry, but sometimes I'll take home those textbooks to read them on my own."
She also enjoys ice skating and didn't miss a minute of the winter Olympics. Doesn't she worry about hurting herself skating?
"Heck, when you walk you could fall and break a finger, right?"
In the few moments she has to relax, Kwon listens to "soft rock and anything that's mellow, like jazz.
"For sure it's not rap or the Spice Girls."
If a career in music hadn't panned out, Kwon said she would have taken a stab at acting, journalism or psychology. Her social life is pretty limited, with a hectic study and performance schedule.
"I choose not to have a boyfriend in my life ... though I could if I wanted to," she said. "But if I found Mr. Right I could fit that in."
Yoon Kwon
Performs Vivaldi's "Four Seaons" with the Honolulu Symphony:
Times: 4 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
