Violinist Hye-Jin Kim will perform.
An exceptional evening of music is planned for St. Matthew’s Music Guild Concert at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 8.
Violinist Hye-Jin Kim will be featured in the lyrical Violin Concerto by Gian-Carlos Menotti. At the concert, there will also be a world premiere of “Tamit and Moar” by New York composer and saxophonist Ethan Helm.
Kim is known for her musical sensitivity and deeply engaging performances that transport audiences beyond mere technical virtuosity.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Kim entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 14 and earned her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory.
She is Associate Professor of Violin at East Carolina University and a member of the Cooperstown Quartet. Kim is the founder and artistic director of Lullaby Dreams, a non-profit organization that brings beauty and humanity to the hospital experience of babies, families and medical staff in NICUs through music.
Kim has had a versatile career as soloist, recitalist, educator, and chamber musician since her First Prize win at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at the age of nineteen.
She has performed with orchestras throughout the world, including the Philadelphia, BBC, Seoul, Hong Kong and Hannover Chamber orchestras.
Recitals have included those at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Kimmel Center, Salzburg Mirabel Schloss, St. John’s Smith Square and Wigmore Hall, London.
Also on the program is the world-premiere of Helm’s Tamit and Moar.
Ethan Helm will see a premiere of his work Tamit and Moar.
Born in Southern California and now based in New York, composer and saxophonist Helm works in contemporary jazz, classical and musical theatre genres.
Tamit and Moar builds on the success of another Music Guild commission, Dream Walk through Istanbul, (2019) and honors two central deities, “Grandfather Sun” and “Grandmother Moon” who are central to the creation myths of the Tongva indigenous peoples of Southern California.
Helm writes, “Tamit is joyful, adventurous, and sunny, while Moar darkens the landscape with long shadows.
“Straddling and connecting both personalities is the soprano saxophone soloist whose passages are sometimes notated, sometimes improvised – part storyteller, part wanderer,” Helm said. “The creation myths are hundreds of years old but are inspired by the same Southern California landscape that fills my childhood memories: hills, ocean, desert critters, chaparral…”
Helm will be the soprano saxophone soloist.
A free pre-concert lecture offered by Music Guild president Tom Neenan prior to the concert begins at 7:10 p.m. The concert is held at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave. Tickets are $45 or Music Guild Season pass. Visit MusicGuildOnline.org or call (310) 573-7422.