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Petschek Winner Plays for the 'Home Crowd' By TIFFANY KUO
Among lovers of the piano, the Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award is recognized as one of the highest honors bestowed by the School on an emerging pianist with exceptional potential for a performing career. For Juilliard pianists, the Petschek Award is the opportunity of a lifetime, offering a debut in Alice Tully Hall, one of the most prestigious recital halls in the world. It is understandable, then, that every pianist's ears perk up when the recipient is announced in the fall. When Soyeon Lee was chosen as the 2004 recitalist, I was excited but not surprised.
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| Soyeon Lee (Photo by Nick Granito) |
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Soyeon Lee is a familiar pianist within the Juilliard community. She is currently in her seventh year at the School, in the Artist Diploma program, after completing her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees here as well. Most of us have grown accustomed to her long hair and sweet smile, but more importantly, I can recall every piece I have ever heard her perform at school. From Chopin's Third Ballade in Murray Perahia's master class four years ago, to Liszt's Sonetto del Petrarca and Ravel's La Valse on WQXR's McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase two years ago, every performance etched a memory of Soyeon and the work she played. In the Chopin, she told a tale; in the Liszt, she brought us the sights and sounds of his journey in Italy; and in the Ravel, she twirled us around with the melodic figures of a Viennese waltz.There is an obvious reason I have never forgotten a performance by Soyeon: she takes great care in choosing the works she plays. Speaking of her Tully recital program, Soyeon describes the Haydn Sonata as "humorous," Bolcom's Nine Bagatelles as "fun," Brahms's Sonata No. 2 as a "passionate struggle for reconciliation," and the short Ravel pieces in the second half as "jewels." "These pieces are all close to my heart," she says. Soyeon is not your typical Godowsky-pounding, étude-speeding keyboardist. She treats the piano as an intimate instrument with which "precious and beautiful" musical ideas are conveyed. In the world of competitive piano-playing, Soyeon shines through.In the past two years, she has received top prizes in two major international piano competitions: the 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition and the 2002 Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain. From the Santander competition, Soyeon has been scheduled for four separate, multi-city tours of Spain. She completed her first tour this past January, which included the southwestern cities Granada, Sevilla, and Málaga. Soyeon spoke fondly of her memories of her first tour: "Every city was beautiful, and every recital hall was always packed, completely full! There were lots of young people in the audience. One night, the kids from the city's university even took me out to the local bar after the recital. I have to give the Spanish audience a lot of credit for their enthusiasm!"But a seven-city tour of Spain is not as glamorous as one might imagine. Since Soyeon has never learned Spanish formally, she relied heavily on the language-tape crash-courses she purchased just before the trip. "I was responsible for contacting the presenters in every city. So, when they did not speak English, I would wait to hear a number and I would think, O.K., that must be my rehearsal time. So I would reply, 'ocho, piano?'—and pray that we would show up at the same time."Needless to say, a tour is also tremendously draining on the performer. "After finishing that tour, I had a new appreciation for other artists. I used to go to Carnegie Hall and expect the musician on stage to give the performance of his or her career. But now, after having to play the same program over and over, every other day, I realize that there is only so much one can give to each performance. I was lucky that my mom accompanied me and provided the emotional support."
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Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut
Soyeon Lee, Piano
Alice Tully Hall
Thursday, April 8, 8 p.m.
For ticket information, please see
the calendar.
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Soyeon's next tour, later this month, includes San Sebastian, Valladolid, Gijón, Santander, and other northwestern cities in Spain. In the summer, she will cover the northeastern region, including Barcelona. In the fall, she will perform with an orchestra in Murcia. Her tours will conclude in Madrid, where she will give her debut recital before the next competition.Despite all the accolades, Soyeon never takes her piano-playing skills for granted. Three weeks before the Cleveland competition, while in Pittsburgh, she was in a car that spun out of control in a terrible rainstorm, hit the divider, then bounced back through all the lanes, flipping three times before finally landing on its side. "The car had to be cut open so we could be rescued," she recalls. Miraculously, Soyeon suffered only minor bruises and cuts to a small area of her lower limbs. After being observed in intensive care for three days, she was told by the physicians at the hospital to go home and rest. Instead, she flew to Leipzig to work on her competition repertoire for two weeks (practicing in 10-minute intervals), then came back to the U.S. and played in every round of the Cleveland competition. No one, not even Soyeon herself, can still make sense of her amazing recovery. "It was like the stars lining up. Even though it was terrible, what had happened, all the pressure was lifted off me. I was so happy to be alive and playing, while everyone else seemed nervous."Juilliard pianists have been associated with some of the worst stereotypes in the past, but Soyeon disproves all of them. She has an easy rapport with the students, faculty, and staff at Juilliard, as well as with the Lincoln Center community at large, and considers Lincoln Center as her secondary, or musical, home. "The piano faculty doesn't seem so distant anymore, and the guys with the Duane Reade bags in the audience are also looking familiar. After playing abroad, I'm truly looking forward to playing for the 'home crowd' at Tully."Tiffany Kuo, who earned her master's degree in piano at Juilliard, is now pursuing a doctorate in musicology at N.Y.U.
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