Van Cliburn Gold Medal Winner (2017)

Nov 3, 2017

Van Cliburn Gold Medal Winner (2017)

Yekwon Sunwoo

Archived

Starting at $20

Presented by: Artist Series
Intermission: One
Venue: Macky Auditorium
Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, 1595 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO 80309

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"Music that is not performed ceases to exist. The composer is at the top in the scheme of things, but it is a person who brings the music to life." —Van Cliburn

Held every four years in tribute to history's greatest American pianist, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is the Olympic Games of the piano. The competition winner, Yekwon Sunwoo of South Korea, stops in Boulder for a dazzling solo recital.

Program

Schubert: Sonata in C minor, D.958

INTERMISSION

Percy Grainger: "Ramble on the last Love-duet" from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
Rachmaninoff: Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op.36 [1931 Edition]
Ravel: La Valse

Click here to view the full program

Video Extras

News & Reviews

The 28-year-old is fresh off that three-week keyboard gauntlet also known as the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where he captured the coveted gold medal. Soon, he’ll give recitals in cities all over the map–including at Boulder's own Macky Auditorium.

CU Presents

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News & Reviews

His playing was crisp and effervescent, with crystalline trills; in a work that demanded parity, he was an ideal foil.

The New York Times

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News and Reviews

Sunwoo, 28, seems to have music pouring out of his fingers; his musicality and elegance—combined with an economical technique and multiple variations in tone and dynamic levels—are gaining him fans.

Clavier Companion

News & Reviews

Muhammad Ali’s famous quote ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ came to my mind. This was because Sunwoo employed a very wide range of dynamics, from the softest soft to the loudest loud, in his interpretation. His performance became more effective as it went on, and the finale raised goose bumps.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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News & Reviews

[He] started out in a deceptively unassuming way and then quietly snuck up on greatness: a thoughtful performance of one of the hardest concertos in the repertoire ... Sunwoo certainly walked an assured line between these two extremes, offering technical brilliance set off by artistic sensitivity.

The Washington Post

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News and Reviews

The first half of his program for Macky is filled by a single large work, Schubert’s C-minor Sonata, the first of three sonatas Schubert wrote shortly before his death. “The C-minor is lesser known, compared to the last two,” Sunwoo says. After an intermission, he will play “Ramble on the Last Love-duet,” based on a theme from Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier by the eccentric Australian composer Percy Grainger. After a gentle opening that reminds Sunwoo of “a sunset on the ocean,” the piece becomes rhapsodic and virtuosic.

Peter Alexander, Boulder Weekly

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News and Reviews

He performs on Friday at Macky Auditorium as part of the CU Presents Artist Series, which always brings the winner of the quadrennial competition to Boulder the following fall. "I've been fortunate to win quite a few competitions, but the Cliburn is the big one," Sunwoo said. "The gold medalist is guaranteed to have a lifelong concert career right after winning."

Kelly Dean Hansen, Daily Camera

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Artists

Van Cliburn Gold Medalist

Yekwon Sunwoo

2017 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist

Downloads

Concert Program

Download 5.8MB

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