Jennifer Koh Violin
Violinist Jennifer Koh mesmerizes audiences with the sheer intensity of her playing. As a virtuoso whose natural flair is matched with a probing intellect, Ms. Koh is committed to exploring connections between the pieces she plays, searching for similarities of voice among composers, as well as within the works of a single composer. In the words of Allan Kozinn of The New York Times:
Jennifer Koh's violin recitals are consistently pleasing, not only because she is in command of a strong technique and a rich arsenal of tone, but also because she builds her programs thoughtfully, with a sensible balance of contemporary works and standard repertory.
Highlights of Ms. Koh’s 2009–2010 season include return guest appearances with the New Jersey Symphony, National Symphony and the New World Symphony, among other ensembles. Abroad, she makes her Proms debut with the BBC Symphony directed by Jiří Bĕlohlávek in the UK premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s violin concerto Juggler in Paradise and is also heard with the BBC Scottish Orchestra. A new concerto written and commissioned for Ms. Koh by Klas Torstensson will be premiered in Amsterdam with the NIEUW Ensemble in May 2010.
To commemorate the 325th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s birth, in September 2009 Ms. Koh performed the first three concerts of a six-recital noontime series devoted to the complete Bach violin partitas presented by Columbia University’s Miller Theater at Philosophy Hall. Senior critic Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times reviewed Ms. Koh’s performance of Bach’s great D Minor Chaconne:
Finally, she gave a deeply expressive account of the Chaconne, dispatching the challenges with such security that you did not notice the sheer virtuosity at work. The ovation was so ardent that Ms. Koh, who had been visibly engrossed in her performance, wiped away tears. (September 30, 2009).
In October 2009 Ms. Koh was heard in recital at Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel in works ranging from Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Laughing Verlernt to Bach’s Partita No.3 in E Major – performances that brought the following from critic Donald Rosenberg of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer:
Koh was as fearless in Salonen’s challenges as she was sensitive and bold in the night’s other works. She opened with Bach’s Partita No.3 in E Major, which benefited from tonal suavity, clarity of texture and nuanced phrasing. The dance rhythms had lilt or gravity, as needed. (October 31, 2009)
In November 2009 Ms. Koh was heard in a Columbia University/Miller Theater Composer Portraits concert performing Graal Théatre (1997), a violin concerto by Kaija Saariaho. “Ms. Koh gave a stunning, high-energy account of the almost continuous solo line…” wrote Allan Kozinn of The New York Times. (November 25, 2009)
Ms. Koh’s other recital engagements this season include all-Mozart and Schubert programs with pianist Shai Wosner and a duo program with cellist Anssi Kartunnen with performances in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Center), New York (Miller Theatre and the Baryshnikov Arts Center), San Francisco (Herbst Theatre), Oberlin College (OH), Houston (Da Camera Society), and Minneapolis (Schubert Club).
Reviewing Ms. Koh’s most recent disc Rhapsodic Musings (Cedille), Art Lange of Fanfare writes:
When [contemporary music] is played with the passion and conviction that violinist Jennifer Koh generates on behalf of these three 21st-century scores (not excluding Elliott Carter’s Four Lauds, which were composed between 1984 and 2000), the skeptics have nothing to fear. She displays impeccable technique and a flawless tonal range regardless of their degree of difficulty, and more important, uncovers the lyrical impulse at the music’s core. (January/February 2010)
In November 2008, Ms. Koh made her debut with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra performing the Russian premiere of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto under Maestro Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg. Other engagements that season included solo appearances with the orchestras of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Houston, and the National Symphony. She was heard in recital in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia; and in chamber music in New York at the 92nd Street Y. Besides performing various contemporary works such as Saariaho’s Graal Théatre, Ms. Koh performed concertos of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Mozart, as well as the Beethoven Triple Concerto.
Since the 1994-95 season when she won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ms. Koh has been heard with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, New World Symphony and Montreal Symphony. Abroad, she has appeared with the Czech Philharmonic, BBC London Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Iceland Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony, Moscow Radio Symphony, Brandenburg Ensemble, and the Singapore Symphony.
A prolific recitalist, Ms. Koh appears frequently at major music centers and festivals including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Marlboro, Wolf Trap, Spoleto, and The Festival International de Lanaudiere in Canada.
Ms. Koh records regularly for the Chicago-based Cedille label, and, in addition to Rhapsodic Musings, she recently released the Grammy-nominated recording String Poetic. Other Cedille recordings include an acclaimed CD devoted to the complete Schumann violin sonatas plus earlier discs of music by such varied composers as Bach, Schubert, Szymanowski, Martinů, Schoenberg, and jazz great Ornette Coleman, as well as Portraits, a disc featuring the Szymanowski, and Martinů violin concertos recorded with the Grant Park Orchestra under conductor Carlos Kalmar. Her recording Violin Fantasies has been praised for its sense of adventure and brilliant musicianship. In the words of John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune:
The idea of a concept album built around violin fantasies from various periods by composers with distinctly different voices is so good I’m surprised other fiddlers haven’t ventured it. Jennifer Koh, the young violinist on this new Cedille recording, regards each of the four fantasies (Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, Ornette Coleman) as a ‘life’s journey,’ and something of that spirit of high adventure informs her collaboration with pianist Reiko Uchida.
Ms. Koh’s first Cedille recording was an imaginative program centered on Bach’s great Chaconne (with solo chaconnes by turn of the century contemporaries Richard Barth and Max Reger).
A committed educator, Ms. Koh has also won high praise for her performances in classrooms around the country under her innovative Music Messenger outreach program. Now in its seventh year, the program continues to form an important part of her musical activities. “The majority of children in this country have not been given an opportunity to learn music as a form of self-expression,” she asserts, “and I want to share the experience of creating and listening to music with them.” Ms. Koh’s outreach efforts have taken her to classrooms all over the country to perform challenging music – whether it be Bach, Paganini or Bartók – for thousands of students who have little opportunity to hear classical music in their daily lives. "Music is a visceral experience which can create a positive outlet for emotions and a place for inner expression that is more compelling than time spent in front of the television or at a mall,” she adds. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for the Advancement for the Arts, a scholarship program for high school students in the arts.
Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Ms. Koh currently resides in New York City. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and an alumna of the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. Ms. Koh is grateful to her private sponsor for the generous loan of the 1727 Ex Grumiaux Ex General DuPont Stradivari she uses in performance.
