ShortGrass Music Festival Piano Concert ~ Ji-Yong

The ShortGrass Music Festival continues to present live music in the greater Cimarron area with piano concerts by Ji-Yong this Sunday and Monday:

JI, PIANO •  SUNDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER  •  4 pm*
United Methodist Church, Cimarron
Tickets $10 (under 18 free)
(*A reception for the ShortGrass Music Festival artists will be held at the Express St. James Hotel immediately following this performance. All are invited to attend.)

JI, PIANO  •  Monday, 21 SEPTEMBER  •  9 am
School Outreach Concert at the Shuler Theater, Raton

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a gifted young pianist who is clearly going places,” JI has been lauded from a young age for his compelling musical presence and impressive technical command.  JI’s 2014-2015 season includes recital appearances at the Summer Stars Chamber Music Festival, Honest Brook Music Festival, Tannery Pond Concerts, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the South Windsor Cultural Arts Commission, the West Side Concert Series, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  A sought-after soloist, he makes his Alice Tully Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, performing Ravel’s Concerto in G Major.

JI has appeared as soloist with orchestras including, the Toronto Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, Charlotte Philharmonic, Victoria Symphony, New Haven Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony.  He has given recitals and educational outreach programs throughout the U.S. at Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, the Harriman-Jewell Series, Philadelphia’s Morning Musicales, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Mary Baldwin College, St. Vincent College, the Evergreen Museum and Library, the Port Washington Library, the Waveny Chamber Music Festival and the Brevard Music Festival.  He has also performed in four-hand recitals with Marika Bournaki at the SeoulArtCenter and with Charles Wadsworth in a chamber music program of Charles Wadsworth and Friends.  Ji has recorded two CDs: Bach Exhibition on the Credia label, and Lisztomania with Credia/Universal Music.

Well-known in his native country, JI performed Korea’s first outdoor classical concert as soloist with the BBC Symphony under Jirí Belohlávek; and performed in Seoul with world-renowned ballerina, Sue Jin Kang and dancers from the Stuttgart Ballet.  JI’S creative vision to make classical music accessible to young people led to his “Stop & Listen” outdoor “guerrilla” performances in 2010, during which 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 also collaborated with the Japanese electronic/house music singer FreeTEMPO.  From 2008 to 2013, Ji performed as a member of the Ensemble DITTO in Korea and Japan with violinist Stefan Jackiw, violist Richard O’Neill, and cellist Michael Nicholas.

Winner of the 2012 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, JI made recital debuts at Merkin Concert Hall and the Kennedy Center on the Young Concert Artists Series to rave reviews.  He was also honored with eight YCA prizes: the John Browning Memorial Award, the Sander Buchman Award, the Slomovic Concerto Prize, the Korean Concert Society Prize, and four concert prizes: the Harriman-Jewell Series Prize, the Bronder Prize for Piano from Saint Vincent College, the Tannery Pond Concerts Prize and the Usedom Festival Prize in Germany.

JI began playing the piano at the age of five.  At nine, his family relocated to New York, where he studied at the Music Preparatory Division of the Mannes College with Yuri Kim, and later at The Juilliard School’s Pre-College with Yoheved Kaplinsky.  At the age of ten, he was the youngest pianist to win the New York Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition, resulting in a performance at Avery Fisher Hall under Maestro Kurt Masur.  He is currently working with Choong-Mo Kang at The Juilliard School.
www.yca.org 

how to purchase tickets…