Name: Password: or
strict warning: Only variables should be passed by reference in /home3/classij3/public_html/sites/all/modules/interview/interview.module on line 356.

Jennifer Koh

Violinist Jennifer Koh

A Conversation with Bruce Duffie

Jennifer Koh is one of a select few violinists who have risen to the top and are making their way in the competitive field of international touring soloist. She does it all — she plays solo recitals, she appears with orchestras around the world, she makes recordings on a regular basis. Her repertoire encompasses the standard literature as well as recent works and world premieres. Beyond all of this, she inspires young and old alike with her style and presence both onstage and off.

More info and photos can be found on her official website, and many details of her career are included in the biography at the end of this webpage.

Now a resident of New York City, Koh is a graduate of Oberlin and Curtis. But she was born in Chicago so I could not resist beginning the conversation with the following question . . . . .

Photo of Jennifer Koh

Jennifer Koh | Photo © Janette Beckman

Bruce Duffie: Is it at all odd to be a guest in your hometown?

Jennifer Koh: Oh, it’s great! It’s really quite special to have a chance to play in your hometown! I’m very happy to be back in Chicago.

BD: Good, good. Now, you’re playing at Grant Park, which is an outdoor festival, but this one will be indoors at the Harris Theater. Is it disappointing for you not to be playing out in the band shell?

JK: Well, we had a chance. Yesterday we had rehearsal in the new outdoor venue, and that’s just a gorgeous, gorgeous, amazing, beautiful place! So, it would have been very nice to play there, but because we’re recording this concert, we have to be indoors!

BD: Is that the ideal way to get something onto a disc — do a live concert and then fix any tiny mistakes?

JK: I actually enjoy it. The last CD that I released of a concerto, the Menotti, was actually done in a similar way — from two live concerts.

BD: That gives you enough material?

JK: Hopefully! [Both laugh]

BD: You’ve also done recordings in the studio?

JK: Yes, yes.

BD: Which do you prefer?

JK: There’s something that’s very magical about playing live, no matter if it is recording or not recording. There’s a special energy and a special kind of relationship with the audience that I think definitely affects the music making.

BD: Does it please you, as young as you are, to be making a few recordings these days?

JK: It’s great fun! I’m having a lot of fun, and it’s been really nice to be working with Cedille Records, because it really offers a great deal of artistic control and repertoire choices and ideas, which is quite unique in the recording industry right now.

BD: You’ve made it a point, so far, to play standard works and new works. From this vast repertoire of violin literature, how do you decide what you will play?

JK: I go on different kicks! [Laughs] It all depends on what’s inspiring me at the moment. With this concerto that I’m playing — the Szymanowski, for example — I was going through a huge fix of Milan Kundera, and was just reading so much about Czechoslovakia! He also speaks a great deal about music; I think his father was a musician. I also played with the Czech Philharmonic in their beautiful hall this year, the Dvořák Rudolfinum, and was just very inspired to do a lot of Bohemian things, I suppose. So Szymanowski, Janáček, Martinů — these are all inspiration points.

BD: How long has this been in the planning stage, the concert and the recording?

JK: For a while now. I guess we were in the talking stages for maybe nine months or a year. We’re still deciding about future repertoire, what’s feasible, what we want to do and what we think would be exciting.

BD: Do you know yet what else will be on the disc?

JK: We’re still in the talking stages.

BD: So you’ll lay this down, and then decide eventually what to put with it?

JK: Yes.

BD: Is that good, to let it sit in the can for a year or two before it comes out?

JK: I think it’ll probably only be a year. We’re definitely finishing the concerto disc next year, so it’s exciting! I’m very excited! And to record with a Chicago orchestra is great, too.

* * * * *

BD: You were born here, but you’re of Korean descent?

JK: Yes.

BD: Is there ever any thought to doing works by Korean composers?

JK: Actually, I’ve just found a very interesting work by a composer called Unsuk Chin, who happens to be Korean. It’s interesting, though, because she was a student of Ligeti. Because of that connection is how I discovered it, and then I realized she was Korean! I just did a tour with Tan Dun, and we did his Water Passion. That’s a very Asian influenced; he’s a very Asian influenced composer. It was a completely new and different language for me, musically! [Laughs] It was very exciting and very inspiring to explore this new medium. I’ve been totally trained in the classical tradition, so breaking into this kind of Asian music was very new for me.

BD: Did you find that it resonated somehow in a special way?

JK: No. I think that there are a lot of kinds of music and a lot of composers and a lot of instruments that resonate within me. I’m also an avid, kind of obsessive collector of historical recordings, so it’s really a matter of where you find your artistic inspiration. That’s also something that’s very fluid, because once you discover something and you’re very excited about it, then you want to discover more. And your process of growing and changing is always moving. I did this tour with Tan Dun in Asia a few months ago, and that was very exciting. Now we’re moving on to Bohemia!

BD: Are you now hoping that he’ll write something for you?

JK: He’s actually got a movie in the works. He showed me the score and gave me the music, and is thinking of making it into a suite for violin and orchestra, similar to what he did from his movie score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That was, of course, with Yo-Yo for cello and orchestra, and then he created a suite for it. So we’ll see if he wants to do the same thing with this particular score.

BD: When you come to a brand new score, do you ever work with the composer on it or do you wait until the composer has finished the score and then see what is on the paper?

JK: Most often I think the best way is to wait until they’re finished with their creative process. Most composers will change things once they hear the rehearsals or the first performances. A couple composers don’t, but most do, actually. There’s always a creative process.

BD: Are you ever surprised by what composers will ask of you, the violinist?

JK: I’ve really run the gamut in terms of different composers I’ve played with and worked with! So I think at this point, I’m pretty much not overly surprised! But I am always surprised, in a sense, by their uniqueness. One of the things I find completely inspiring about working with composers is that they are so individual, and they have such a unique way of looking at the world. It’s not only in terms of their music, but also in their personalities and who they are. That’s always extremely fascinating for me.

BD: When you get a piece of music, do you delve just into the music, or do you also delve into the background of the composer and his or her ideas?

JK: Again, it’s always where your inspiration points it. Sometimes you feel the point immediately when you look at the score. Other times, it can be when you play different parts and sometimes when you bring everything together. And sometimes it could be looking into the composer’s life. It depends on the piece quite a bit.

BD: When you’re working with a piece of music and you’re playing what the composer wants and trying to figure out everything that is there in the score, are there times when you put a little bit of yourself into it, also?

JK: In terms of...?

BD: ...the music, the phrasing, the ideas.

JK: Oh, absolutely! I think working with composers today is so vital. I’ve never worked with a composer that said, “Don’t feel free.” Every single composer I’ve worked with — and I’ve worked with quite a few — have always said, “Do what you want with the music. I wrote this music, and now do what you feel is in the music.” It’s quite special, and I feel that when you go back to your bread-and-butter staples of the repertoire, like Beethoven and Brahms and Schumann, Schubert, Mozart, you look at it with a different perspective.

BD: I was going to ask if you feel free with the living composers, do you feel free with the dead composers, too?

JK: I think one should, definitely. Different composers are very different. For example, Beethoven is very detailed in how he marks everything, almost obsessively so; Mozart, less so. So again, it depends on the particular composer.

BD: Do you go behind Bach, or is that about the beginning of music for you?

JK: I have done some exploration into Renaissance music. For me, Bach is a great master to start with. Why not? But of course there’s also music before that, before him!

BD: When you get much before Bach, then you really need to use other instruments.

JK: Yeah. I hear reasons to play Bach on baroque instruments, but I’ve also heard extremely convincing performances of Bach on today’s pianoforte or today’s violin. I think it depends on the interpretation of it as well.

* * * * *