16 year-old Bobby Boogyeon Park, who won the bronze medal at the 2021 Stulberg International String Competition, is making his first appearance in Kalamazoo by playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra. That’s because the 2021 competition was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Park and KJSO conductor Andrew Koehler joined Cara Lieurance for a conversation about the program. Park says he has an affinity for Russian music in part because of his mother’s understanding of the language and culture. Park is part of a group of young violinists who hold frequent workshops and give each other feedback. His teachers are Katherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein.
Koehler says he called the program “Legends” because it opens with the Faust Overture by Emilie Mayer, features a “legend-in-the-making” in Bobby Park, and closes with Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2, which he wrote under the thrall of an ancient Russian epic story.
The concert is at 4 pm Sunday Feb 20 at Chenery Auditorium. Tickets and details are at the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra website.