Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

Athenaeum Concert Series: Subtext in Soviet Music

Mon, September 23, 2024
Dinner Program
YooJin Jang and Sheena Hui '19

Join us for the opening of the 2024-2025 Athenaeum Concert Series, featuring celebrated violinist YooJin Jang and our very own expert pianist Sheena Hui '19!

This year's series, In Freundschaft – In Friendship, celebrates music that recognizes the value of our collaborative human existence, including music dedicated to friends, music that depicts loneliness and companionship, and collaborative music-making.

How did Soviet Russia develop a rich musical identity and canon while other oppressive 20th Century regimes – Nazi Germany, Maoist China – lay “musically barren,” in the words of leading music historian Richard Taruskin? Soviet musicians did not escape political persecution by any means, but a small group managed to survive and produce authentic, enduring masterpieces. Of these composers, Dmitri Shostakovich is a representative case, having fallen in and out of Soviet favor in spectacular fashion throughout his life. On one hand, Shostakovich was a true patriot, never defecting from the USSR unlike fellow composers Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff despite living in constant paranoia; on the other hand, he was a fiercely unique artist, whose artistic integrity found a way into his music through the myriad subtextual possibilities of music. This Athenaeum presentation explores Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata, written for the 60th birthday of his friend, the adored Soviet violinist David Oistrakh. A performance of the work by violinist YooJin Jang and pianist Sheena Hui '19 follows.

Applauded by The Strad for her “fiery virtuosity” and “consummate performances,” violinist YooJin Jang is a winner of the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Competition and First Prize winner of the 2016 Sendai International Music Competition. These successes have resulted in a busy itinerary of international recital and concerto engagements as well as the release of two new recordings.

Her recent concerto performances include appearances with the symphony orchestras of Chautauqua, Dubuque, and Roswell. In recital, highlights include YooJin’s recent Carnegie Hall debut and concerts at Jordan Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series in Chicago.  Internationally, YooJin has performed with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bulgaria National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Spain’s Extremadura Orchestra.

YooJin Jang performs on the 1714 “May-Jacquet” Stradivari Violin on generous loan from the Eastman School of Music.

--

Sheena Hui '19 is the founder of the Athenaeum Concert Series. As a pianist she has performed dozens of solo and chamber recitals in Hong Kong, Europe and across the United States, recently serving as artist-in-residence at Porto Pianofest in Portugal. In addition to her pianistic activities Sheena has an avid interest in music theory; her research focuses on completing unfinished works by the 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin.

Sheena is profoundly aware of her responsibility to share the artistry and knowledge she has inherited from her lineage of teachers and mentors. In addition to teaching at various music festivals and institutions, she hopes that the Athenaeum Concert Series will bring a relevant and fresh perspective on classical music to the Claremont community.

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711

Contact

Phone: (909) 621-8244 
Fax: (909) 621-8579 
Email: