Show-Stopping Pianist Tony Yun

Yun performed at Hong Kong City Hall this past June

This afternoon I was spellbound by pianist Tony Siqi Yun, whose passion for music comes through in his playing -- despite battling a fever.

The Canadian-born pianist had just finished the first half of the program performing Brahms' Theme and Variations in D minor, Op. 18b, Robert Schumann's Theme and Variations in E-flat major WoO 24 "Ghost Variations", and the dazzling Sonata No. 23 in F minor Op. 57 "Appassionata" by Ludwig van Beethoven when the audience jumped to their feet to give a standing ovation.

He graduated from Juilliard last year

During the intermission we found out Yun, 24, had a fever, and did we notice? Those sitting closer to the stage could see he had a red nose, and he wiped his brow after each piece. But despite his illness, Yun powered through with professionalism.

When he was four years old his family moved to Beijing, and his older sister picked up the violin. He later discovered the piano, apparently only playing it 10 minutes a day but somehow managed to become a professional pianist by the age of 11. 

Four years later he moved to New York and studied at Juilliard, where he graduated in 2024. Yun made a name for himself in 2019 when he won the First China International Music Competition, and the Kissinger KlavierOlymp in 2022. He first performed in Vancouver in 2021 and today is his third time here for the Vancouver Recital Society.

Today's performance at Vancouver Playhouse

Yun is tall and wiry, with long skinny fingers, and his hair is curly too. As he plays at the piano, Yun has a tendency to tap his foot on the floor, which seems distracting, and his body movements seem as if he lifts himself up from the piano bench, or he leans so far forward it's as if he's resting his head against the piano.

He's unlike any other performer I've seen -- focused on the music, technically flawless, and once or twice shocked the audience with a sudden loud burst of notes. Yun also likes to extend the sound of notes as long as possible. When playing the last notes of the Brahms piece, he held the notes on the keys until the sound eventually dissipated, whereas others would have finished much earlier. 

Following the intermission, he came back to perform Ferruccio Busoni's Berceuse from Elegies BV 249, and finished with Schumann's Symphonic Etudes Op. 13. Again the crowd jumped to their feet again, and he performed a piece by Bach adapted from a work for violin. A friend who is actually working on the violin piece was stunned when he began playing it because it was quite long, as if it was part of the program, and also wasn't he sick? Or the meds were kicking in?

Nevertheless he gave his fans what they wanted, and the scheduled Q&A with him was cancelled. We'd rather he got some rest! 

This was Yun's third performance in Vancouver

Walking out of Vancouver Playhouse, I felt overwhelmed by the intensity of his performance and needed a drink -- from someone who doesn't drink much alcohol!

Yunchan Lim Dazzles Vancouver Audience

Standing ovation for Lim at the Orpheum

South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim is 20 years old and burst onto the international music scene two years ago when he was the youngest person to win the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition two years ago.

He was in Vancouver today to perform for a concert put on by the Vancouver Recital Society at the Orpheum Theatre and not surprisingly most of the people in the audience were South Korean!

Youngest Van Cliburn winner at 18

Lim arrived this morning from San Diego and immediately went to the Orpheum to get used to the piano and his surroundings; when he arrived there was already a female fan waiting outside at the side entrance!

On stage he looks even younger than 20, and is painfully shy, partly because he doesn't speak much English, and suddenly becoming famous must surely be overwhelming.

The concert program started with contemporary composer Hanurij Lee's piece "... Round and velvety-smooth blend..." which sounded like raindrops. It was a very short piece of about five minutes and Lim left little time for the audience to react when he immediately launched right into JS Bach's Goldberg Variations, which consists of an aria and 30 variations.

Lim played all of them in succession, with a lot of expressive range, from conservative and quiet for the aria, which built up to tremendous energy and movement for the 30th and last variation, and then back to the soft delicate notes of the aria again.

Lim receiving bouquets from fans

Needless to say as soon as he finished playing his last note, the audience jumped to their feet and clapped and whooped loudly. Lim came out three or four times, bowing, and fans rushed to the stage to give him several bouquets of flowers, and even a teddy bear which he placed in the piano as he played an encore (Liszt). He didn't even wait for the crowd to sit down when he started playing his encore piece.

He leaves tomorrow morning for New York to play at Carnegie Hall and then back to South Korea for more concerts. 

It is clear that music is the medium through which Lim communicates with the world; he feels right at home with the instrument. At only 20 years old -- 21 later this month -- Lim is definitely one to watch in the years ahead.

Yunchan Lim 

Hanurij Lee ... Round and velvety smooth blend...

JS Bach Goldberg Variations

Plucky Guitarist Impresses Vancouver Fans

Feuillatre with his special foot stands

This afternoon we were blown away by a classical guitarist who performed at the Vancouver Recital Society concert at the Vancouver Playhouse.

The venue was almost sold out which shows there is a strong interest in guitar in the city, and the audience was moved by how Raphael Feuillatre strummed and plucked his classical guitar to bring out beautiful music from his instrument.

He performed transposed works by JS Bach, Francois Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, Astor Piazzolla, Isaac Albeniz, and Roland Dyens. The range from Baroque to contemporary was fantastic and revealed Feuillatre a well-rounded musician.

His passion for guitar comes through in playing

On stage he sat on a piano bench, cradled the guitar diagonally across his lap and placed his left foot on what looked like a special stand for his foot. Someone later asked if he had special ways of sitting and he just said this was how he sat, and didn't think he had a special way of doing it.

After the concert he came out to do a Q&A. It was revealed Feuillatre was born in Djibouti, Africa in 1996, and by the age of six his parents gave him a plastic guitar to play with. He said even though he liked to listen to pop music, classical music was what really interested him. Luckily he had a good teacher who helped guide him, which led him to move to Paris to further his studies on the guitar.

A woman observed that not once did she hear a squeak from his guitar -- and she was right. When I learned guitar in high school, the squeaks seemed to show you were playing well, but for Feuillatre it was his style not to do that. 

Another asked about the strings he uses and he explained they were from Savarez, who sponsors him; an audience member asked why he kept adjusting the strings and he said because they were new and so he had to keep fixing them to the right tones mid-performance.

Feuillatre (right) talked to the audience after

Feuillatre did mention that one time one of his strings broke during intermission! He does carry extra strings but does not have an extra guitar.

During one piece he shook his right hand and we wondered if his nails were OK and he later said they were; someone asked if he had broken a nail before and he did once but managed to continue; he said he even has fake nails backstage in case something happens! But he only has one day to rest his fingers as he is performing every two days.

When it comes to music for the guitar, he said the repertoire has expanded immensely, particularly contemporary music. However, when someone asked if music for the lute was similar for the guitar, he explained that just by tuning the strings of the guitar slightly then music for the lute could easily be played on the guitar. He said even Bach had transposed some of his music for the lute, and that means for the guitar too.

The cover of one of his albums

He got a question about recordings and he said in his next album he plans to record using a guitar from 300 years ago which is much quieter than guitars today that can be played in large auditoriums. It shows that Feuillatre is keen on creating intimate music for his fans.

One audience member asked about playing flamenco music. While he loves it, he says the style of playing would wreck his nails! Nevertheless, there's a lot of flamenco-esque music that he can play, which satisfies him.

And a middle-aged woman asked him where he lived and if he was single! He bashfully replied he lived in Paris and was in love... with his guitar.

At the end it was revealed that his luggage was lost in Montreal and so he was performing in the clothes he arrived in! We would never have known... living in Europe he was well dressed in a button-down shirt, fitted chinos and tan-coloured shoes. Now if he wore a sweatshirt and sneakers then that would have raised eyebrows!

Johann Sebastian Bach

Prelude No. 1 in C major BWV 846

Francois Couperin

Les Barricades Mysterieuses

Jacques Duphly

Medee

Pancrace Royer

L'Aimable

Johann Sebastian Bach

Concerto in D major BWV 972 (after Vivaldi)

Domenico Scarlatti

Sonata in A major K 208

Miguel Llobet Soles

Variations on a Theme of Sor (La Folla)

Two Catalan folk songs

Julian Arcas

Fantasia on Themes from La Traviata

Isaac Albeniz

Asturias (Leyenda) from Suite espanola No. 1

Francisco Tarrega

Prelude No. 5 in E major

Prelude in F# minor

Prelude No. 6 in D major

Augustin Barrios Mangore

La Catedral

Astor Piazzolla

Adios Nonino

Roland Dyens

Clown Down from Triaela

Piano Prodigy Mao Fujita

Fujita with his matcha ice cream for dessert on Saturday night

This weekend I had the privilege of meeting a young pianist who is rising up the ranks of the music world very quickly. Mao Fujita is only 24 years old and looks very young too, but his playing is so deft and playful, making him a perfect conduit for Mozart's music, but he says he loves to play all kinds of music -- as long as it's classical.

My relatives sponsored his concert held by the Vancouver Recital Society, so I had a chance to meet him for dinner the night before. Eight of us dined at Minami, a contemporary Japanese restaurant in Yaletown. The food suited the location, with lots of young people dining late (we sat down at 8pm).

It's Fujita's first trip to Canada, let alone Vancouver, and he hardly had a chance to see the city -- he arrived Friday night, practiced all day Saturday before we met him, and then Sunday afternoon was the recital before he went back to the airport to fly to Amsterdam.

Playing to a packed audience on Sunday afternoon

Even though the Tokyoite claimed he was a bit tired, his eyes were bright and he was nice to talk to.

Some facts about Fujita: He started learning the piano at the age of three and told us his older brother actually played better than him. But there were a lot of expectations and pressure hoisted on his brother, who quit in the end because he hated practicing... 

Meanwhile Fujita grew to love playing the piano, as there was no pressure on him at all and hearing him talk about music he gets very excited, as he thinks about the the phrasing and tone of specific pieces. Quite amazing.

However, he told us his parents are doctors, and his grandfather was one too, and so there were expectations the two brothers would follow, but that did not pan out. Instead his older brother became a piano tuner, and Fujita a rising piano star who gained a lot of attention when he came in second with a silver medal in the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in the piano category in 2019.

He's also left handed too as we found out while eating with chopsticks! Three out of the eight at the table were lefties.

During the dinner he politely refused alcohol and was very clear on wanting one scoop of matcha ice cream for dessert. After that he was keen to go back to his hotel to sleep.

Fujita talking to Leila Getz, concert organiser

The next day the concert venue, the Vancouver Playhouse, was packed, with almost every seat taken. There were many children in the audience as well as Japanese. Two small children barely two and three sat on booster seats, the younger one clutching his teddy bear and was a very good concert goer.

The adults, not so much. Especially in the second half, some phones went off, with two of them racing for the door -- really? Another got up and left during the third movement -- it was going to be over in a few minutes for goodness sakes!

It was noisy and that made it hard to listen to Fujita because his piano playing is so delicate -- his fingers deftly touch the keys to bring out really subtle sounds but at the same time it's Mozart sonatas, which means every note must be heard -- no fudging!

He was so precise with his playing but also added his own interpretation in a split second delay or emphasising different notes. He also seemed keen to get the concert over with -- as soon as he sat down he would play right away, not wasting a moment.

Interestingly he did not wear a suit, but instead chose to wear a dark brown long sleeve smock or tunic over his pants and shiny shoes. There seemed to be a button on his left side that was very shiny when it caught the light.

Fujita during the Tchaikovsky competition

After the concert of four Mozart sonatas was finished, he received a standing ovation and he sat down to play Tchaikovsky... It was the Sonata No. 9 in D major, so he chose to play a Tchaikovsky piece in D minor!

He took a few minutes to change into casual clothes before for the Q&A, with many young people asking questions like, What is the hardest piece you have ever played? Have you learned all the Mozart sonatas? (no). How do you memorise all the pieces?

When he was young he would play three, four hours a day. Now living in Berlin the last two years he is allowed to play from 8am to 8pm, not that he practices 12 hours a day. However, he is constantly thinking about what he has to play next with his hectic schedule of 70-80 concerts a year! And he flies economy!

How does he deal with jetlag? Practicing keeps him awake!

And what is he listening for when he practices? My playing! he replied. Then he said when he practices he thinks he is playing very well, but in front of an audience he is nervous. 

In late January he made his Carnegie Hall debut, though the New York Times did not give him a particularly favourable review, saying his pieces were relatively safe... nevertheless he told us at the dinner that he will play there again next year.

One person asked why Mozart? And he said during the pandemic he was stuck at home and gravitated towards Mozart and focused on his pieces, which led to his most recent recording last year, Mozart: The Complete Sonatas.

Excited for this young person who is so passionate about classical music he is not interested in any other genre!

Sonata No. 7 in C major, K. 309

Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310/300d

Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major, K. 333

Sonata No. 9 in D major, K. 311

Mind-blowing Cello Concert

German Nicolas Altstaedt performed a cello recital today

This afternoon I went to my first in-person concert in almost a year!

The Vancouver Recital Society brought in German-French cellist Nicholas Altstaedt to perform a solo recital which opened my eyes to the versatility of the cello as well as his virtuosity in playing.

Held at the Vancouver Playhouse, the seats were just under half full -- even though the provincial government allows 100 percent capacity, the VRS only holds concerts that are 50 percent capacity to avoid being caught out by the social-distancing rules constantly changing. And while masks are not mandatory, they are highly recommended and almost everyone who attended complied.

There was less than half capacity at the concert

Altstaedt, 40, from Heidelberg, Germany, came onto the stage wearing the complete opposite of a suit -- loose fitting top and baggy pants -- and socks. His hair is very curly and long, looking like an untamed mass of hair.

Nevertheless he was here to perform and he demonstrated a diverse range of music playing. 

To start, contemporary composer Henri Dutilleux's Trois strophes sur le nom de sacher, followed by going back to the Baroque period with JS Bach's Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011. To see Altstaedt fluidly move between the two completely different styles was impressive and revealed his technical skills.

But after the intermission, his final piece really demonstrated his musicality and skill in Zoltan Kodaly's Sonata in B minor for solo cello Op. 8. The Hungarian composer is know for his folk song style which is present in the first and third movements, heavy and rustic, brash and loud, while the second movement the performer plays the cello like an upright violin at times. His left hand constantly moving down the neck of the cello, while moving his bow back and forth, not the typical long strokes.

At one point he is using the bow, and plucking the string at the same time so it's almost like hearing two different instruments. To have an idea, here is another cellist, Sebastian Baverstam playing the third movement of the Kodaly piece.

Altstaedt receiving more applause from the crowd

We later heard that this is considered one of the hardest pieces a cellist can play, and Altsteadt nailed it with gusto as well as with refinement. Many audience members jumped to their feet after he finished playing this piece, and he gave us an encore of Bach.

Just before he played his encore he explained to the audience that each piece required the strings to be tuned a different way each time -- which totally blasted my assumption that all stringed instruments were tuned the same way. He said they were changed to give more depth to the notes he was playing. That insight blew us all away.

However he did not explain why he wore socks on stage! 

Nicolas Altstaedt

Henri Dutilleux

Trois strophes sur le nom de sacher

JS Bach

Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011

Zoltan Kodaly

Sonata in B minor for solo cello, Op. 8