ICM Artists
Violin soloist Yura Lee performs with the
Honolulu Symphony Sunday and Tuesday.
Young violinist
helps open
symphony season
At 13, Yura Lee is
By Tim Ryan
a veteran soloist
Star-BulletinTHE voice is pure kid, the inflection distinctively teen-aged, the laugher absolutely girlish.
And if you didn't know that Korea-born 13-year-old Yura Lee was a concert violinist, you might never guess it even after a conversation with the bubbly New Jersey resident who says what she "really, really" enjoys is playing on her computer, field hockey "because I fall down on ice skates," baseball and basketball.
Lee performs Sunday and Tuesday in the Honolulu Symphony's classical season opener at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
"I'm really looking forward to coming to Hawaii because I'll have a few days before the concert to get some tan, though I guess I already have a tan because I just got back from Malaysia and boy was it hot there, but I loved the people and the food," she said in a telephone interview from her East Coast home.
Lee began playing the violin at age 4 after her family endured two years of her pounding on a family piano.
"My mom decided that if I wanted a hobby with music that the piano was the biggest and hardest instrument around, so she gave me the smallest instrument, a violin."
At 5, Lee, after studying under Nam Yoon Kim in Korea, won a top prize at the Hankook Ilbo Competition. Two years later she made her debut with Korea's leading orchestra, the KBS Symphony, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. Then at 9, Lee moved to the United States, where in 1997 she received the "Debut Artist of the Year" prize at the Performance Today awards given by National Public Radio.
"You know I was more excited than nervous that first big performance because I had been performing some," she said. "I enjoy being in front of the public."
Lee has heard herself described many times as a "child prodigy."
"The way I think about it is you have natural talent that you can't train for and technique which you can," she said. "Almost everyone can develop technique if they are taught well and practice well.
"But the stuff inside, your mind and the thoughts that show through in your music can't be faked. I can't really judge myself in this regard. I have whatever I've been born with."
Over the last few years young performers have become very popular on the symphony concert circuit, agreed Michael Tiknis, Honolulu Symphony executive director, and musical director-conductor Sam Wong.
"People are curious about seeing these kids perform, but they are also very, very talented," he said. "They can play."
Wong hinted that in some cases prodigies have been exploited, facing performance pressure most children cannot handle.
"Any gifted child can potentially get in real trouble if they're not handled carefully," Wong said. "These unusual talents are in a sense an abnormality because these kids don't have (coping skills) like your average child. So they're open for great dangers; many things can go wrong, so they need to be protected."
And the performers seem to be getting younger, Tiknis said.
"The minute someone shows promise, they get management," Tiknis said. "Then these kids play 20, 30, 40, 50 concerts a year."
"Some don't survive their gift to go on and have careers as adults," Wong added.
Lee said she maintains a balance by attending a regular school on weekdays with lessons at the Juilliard School of Music on Saturdays. She performs as often as six times month.
"The travel doesn't really bother me," she said. "I'm more concerned about changes in climate that affect my instrument. High humidity can crack a violin."
At first, Lee's schoolmates thought it was "weird" that she traveled so much. Once they understood what she did, some attended her local concerts. Though Lee hopes to continue playing violin as an adult, she has a more heavenly dream.
"I want to be an astronomer and do something that has not been done before, like going to a star ..."
Several years ago as she stared into the heavens, Lee walked into a stoplight, breaking her glasses. "I just wanted to know what was up there. Got really involved in the sky.
"I don't want to have a great career before I'm 20 then have it disappear. I'm moving slowly now 'cuz when people look at me I don't want them to think I'm so different."
The guest violinist kicks off the Honolulu Symphony's Halekulani Classical Masterworks Season: Yura Lee
Program: Sam Wong conducts Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219; and Requiem, K. 626. Oahu Choral Society also performs.
Youth will launch the Honolulu Symphony's classical season, while experience carry it through the 14-concert, nine-month series. Youth, experience
highlight seasonThe symphony's 99th season -- "A Century is Waiting in the Wings" -- begins Sunday, featuring both established stars who have attracted audiences for years and rising stars who promise to take classical music lovers into the next millennium.
Five concerts feature renowned artists still in their teens, including violinist Yura Lee, 13; violinist Sarah Chang, 16; cellist Alisa Weilerstein, 16; pianist Helen Huang, 14; and cellist Han-Na Chang, 14.
"We've found that there's an appetite for prodigies here," said Sam Wong, symphony musical director and conductor. "Adults and kids are following these ... budding young performers."
Guest artists will also include Moscow-born and trained pianist Alex Slobodyanik, pianist Jon Kimura Parker, 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano competition gold medalist Jon Nakamatsu, piano duo Emanuel and Yoko Ax, pianist Dickran Atamian and taiko drummer Kenny Endo.
"The industry knows we're on a more secure footing now so they really are coming here as regular guest artists and not as a special favor or just passing through on way to Tokyo or L.A.," Wong said.
The symphony's own soloists, principal flutist Susan McGinn, concertmaster Ignace Jang and principal oboist Scott Janusch will also be featured. Guest conductors will include Vladimir Feltsman, Max Bragado-Darman and the North American debut on Sunday of Naoto Otomo from Japan.
The expanded season -- two more concerts than last year -- is due to the orchestra's growing reputation and to strong ticket sales, said Michael Tiknis, symphony executive director.
In January the symphony will perform the world premier of "Let Freedom Ring," a piece by University of Hawaii professor Takeo Kudo. The piece explores Japanese internment and will feature taiko artist Endo.
Wong said he selects guests by going through his "internal list of favorites" then with Tiknis looking at the budget.
"I always push for more concerts," he said. "If I had my way we would do 45 weeks of classical concerts a year."
The person who almost single-handedly brought the Honolulu Symphony back from the dead is resigning after this season. Symphony’s executive
director will leave
at season's endThe reason? Hawaii's high cost of living.
"The economic realities of living in Hawaii have caught up with my family," said Michael Tiknis, the symphony's executive director since 1995. "The reality is I could never afford as nice a house here as I could on the mainland. And we have an 8-year-old son; we must consider college expenses.
"We were just barely able to get by financially. And we're considering having a second child."
Tiknis, 46, whose salary is $104,000 a year, said he is paid "quite well," but not enough for someone "at this stage in my life." The Tiknises rent a home in the Koko Head area.
"Realistically, I don't think this position can be paid much more, not when you have some symphony musicians making just $23,000 a year," he said. "And I have not asked the board for a raise to get me to stay."
Tiknis is in the fourth year of a year-to-year contract.
Maureen McNamara, the symphony's marketing director, also resigned recently, in part for economic reasons.
Tiknis will remain through the 1998-99 season, during which time there will be a nationwide search for a successor.
Tiknis suggests "a younger person, perhaps single, or married, but not yet raising a family." Tiknis for some time has been talking with mainland orchestras, but has not yet been offered a job, he said.
Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the symphony board, is saddened by Tiknis' decision, saying he has done an "incredible job."
"Michael has orchestrated an amazing turn-around for the symphony, bringing it back from the dead to being stable financially. We would not be where we are right now, debt-free with an endowment of more than $6 million, if it were not for him. Frankly, I don't think there is another Michael out there."
Tiknis, who came to Hawaii in 1995 from New York, is proud of the symphony's progress.
"In 1995 Hawaii had no symphony; now we have one that has performed at the Hollywood Bowl and is in a very healthy financial position," he said. "I wouldn't have traded these four years for anything in my life. It has been the most unique, unusual, challenging, frustrating and rewarding experience a human being could ever ask for."
