Opus 3 Trio

Performers

Notes on the performers

Youngmin Lee is a Korean violinist and educator based in China. She began her solo career at the age of 18 with the Kyoungki Festival Orchestra, performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto. After graduating from Yonsei University College of Music in South Korea, she gained extensive experience with various professional orchestras, including Gunpo Prime Philharmonic, Creadia, New World Symphony, and served as the second violin associate principal of the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Orchestra. Following her relocation to China, Youngmin took several gap years. In 2022, she became a 1st violin player of the Xian Symphony Orchestra, performing across China. She has collaborated with numerous conductors and soloists, including Zhang Guoyong and Ningfeng, in various cities throughout the country.

Youngmin has received multiple awards. In September 2024, she won first prize at the 8th Japan International Competition, and she was a semifinalist in both the 1st Joachim Violin Competition 2023 (UK) and the 3rd Grazyna Bacewicz International Violin Competition in Lodz (Poland). She earned gold and silver medals at the Gyeonggi-Do Student Music Competition in South Korea in 2003, 2004, and 2005, competing successfully as both a soloist and chamber musician. Her string quartet won first prize at the Hong Kong International Music Competition (Chamber Division) 2017 and second prize at the Osaka International Music Competition (Chamber Music) 2016. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Performance Studies (Violin) at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Tahee kim, a Kiwi- Korean cellist, winner of the Royal Overseas League Chamber music competition, has performed across the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and St Martin’s in the Field.
Invited to perform at the Paleis Het Loo in the Netherlands alongside Martti Roussi, Tahee has collaborated with many respectable musicians such as Clio Gould, Jonathan Mortan and Torleif Thedeen. Through her many accomplishments, Tahee Kim has been acknowledged through awards like the Arts and Cultural Blues award, the Carl and Alberta Rosenfeldt Prize in Chamber Music and the Donny Charitable Trust Travelling Scholarship, reflecting her versatility as a musician. Tahee Kim has encompassed solo, chamber and orchestral playing, having a notable performance with the Love and Peace Orchestra as a soloist, and playing alongside the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and
the Cevitas Duo. She has a continuous desire to grow her artistic development and ambitions by pursuing higher education at the Royal Academy of Music in London, in addition to her previous two Masters.

Tahee is committed to sharing her passion for music with others, young and old, playing for young adults and children in schools, and at various rest homes. Through mentorship programs and workshops, she aims to inspire the next generation of musicians and cultivate a greater appreciation for classical music among audiences of all ages. Tahee wishes that her musical journey serves as a testament to resilience and dedication and she hopes to continue her musical journey at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Chinese American pianist Pan Xiao has embarked on a multifaceted career as a soloist, collaborator, and pedagogue. Raised in Colorado, Pan was most recently based in Chicago, and served on the accompanying faculties at Northwestern University and Loyola Academy.

Among other accomplishments, Pan has won awards from Chicago’s Musicians Club of Women, the Music Teachers’ National Association, and the International Institute for Young Musicians. Additionally she has soloed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Breckenridge Festival Orchestra, and has given performances at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Chamber Mondays Concert Series and the WFMT Bach Keyboard Festival.

Pan holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and is currently at the Royal Academy of Music to continue her post-graduate studies in Ensemble Piano. Pan is also a graduate of Northwestern’s dual-degree program, having earned bachelor’s degrees in both piano performance and chemistry.

Programme

Programme notes

Johannes Brahms

Piano trio No.1 in B major Op. 8

1. Allegro con moto — Tempo un poco più Moderato — Schnell
2. Scherzo: Allegro molto — Trio: Più lento — Tempo primo
3. Adagio non troppo — Allegro — Tempo primo
4. Finale: Allegro molto agitato — Un poco più lento — Tempo primo

The Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8, by Johannes Brahms was completed in January 1854, when the composer was only twenty years old. It has often been mistakenly claimed that the first performance had taken place in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Claire Cowan

Subtle Dances

1. Dance
2. Elegy
3. Struggle

Subtle Dances is a set of three short moods for piano trio. In writing, I have tried to approach the works as intuitively as possible. For me this creates the greatest connection between me as a composer, the performers, and the audience listening. Each work features one instrument more prominently – firstly cello, then piano, then violin. The music explores my continued fascination with the space created within the music, in which a listener can engage. Both hypnotic and meditative, the pieces present themselves as a contrasting set of interior landscapes. They are: passing thoughts, memories, unsolvable problems, and explorations of headspace.

Firstly – it begins with a dance; a rhythmical and passionate interlocking of playful lines, but not without an element of danger or risk. Secondly – an elegy, the body in its slowest state. Thirdly – a struggle, an unanswered question, a cycle – and ultimately, a transition; a bursting through, into a new light.

Source: Claire Cowan