KCC HOUSE CONCERT: Programme for June

Programme:

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)

Mondnacht, Liederkreis Op.39

Vogel als Prophet, Waldszenen Op. 82

Freundliche Landschaft, Waldszenen Op.82

Schöne Fremde, Liederkreis Op. 39

Auf einer Burg, Liederkreis Op. 39

Verrufene Stelle, Waldszenen Op. 82

Einsame Blumen, Waldszenen Op.82

Wehmut, Liederkreis Op. 39

Zwielicht, Liederkreis Op. 39

Jäger auf der Lauer, Waldszenen Op. 82

Frühlingsnacht, Liederkreis Op.39

Abschied, Waldszenen Op. 82

Check the Trailer here.

Programme note:

Holly and JongSun met during their postgraduate studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, through their shared love for art song. They both received Distinction and Concert Recital Diploma for outstanding performances in their final recitals in 2020.

This programme compares side-by-side a selection of pieces from two of the great works by Robert Schumann: Liederkreis Op.39 and Waldszenen Op. 82. Written eight years apart in 1940 and 1948 respectively, the two pieces capture the essence of the Romantic landscape, both physical and emotional. The mix of sublimity, strangeness, foreboding, melancholy, and sheer rural beauty provides the artists with a large canvas on which to paint.

Performers:

Pianist Jongsun Woo is currently in her second year of Masters in Collaborative Piano at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Eugene Asti, Pamela Lidiard and Carole Presland. JongSun has performed in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Crush Room Royal Opera House, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, St. John's Smith Square. She has made multiple appearances as a concerto soloist with orchestras in UK. As a chamber musician, JongSun performed Beethoven's complete works for 'cello and piano in 2017.

Jongsun started her studies with Patsy Toh at Junior Royal Academy of Music and the Purcell School. After graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama with First Class Honours in 2014, she then went on to win a full scholarship to study with Peter Serkin at Bard College Conservatory, New York. She has also participated in masterclasses with Ferenc Rados and Rita Wagner at Prussia Cove International Musicians' Seminar 2015& 2016 and has received guidance from Krysia Osostowicz and Richard Lester among others.

Holly Brown is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she gained her Bachelors and Masters, both with distinction. While studying she collaborated on and premiered Christian Drew's 'Dug' at Wigmore Hall, participated in a masterclass and concert series with Judith Weir and performed Julian Philip's Cantos do Sonho as part of the composer's 50th birthday celebrations. She was also a finalist in the school's Schubert Song Competition and performed a short recital of Russian song at the Barbican Hall for the LSO. She has performed regularly for the LSO Discovery series, most recently in Mahler's Second Symphony.

On the Operatic stage, she has performed Clorinda (La Cenerentola) for British Youth Opera, Carolina (Il matrimonio segreto) for Hampstead Garden Opera, and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) for Oxford Alternative Orchestra. She was a chorus soloist with West Green House Festival Opera and was contracted to Grange Park Opera for the cancelled 2020 season; she hopes to return in 20201. On the concert platform, she has performed Lieschen in Bach's Coffee Cantata at St. Lawrence Jewry Festival, 'Exsultate, Jubilate' with the Watford Philharmonic and as a soloist at the Queen Charlotte's Ball for the London Season.