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Violinist Yezu Woo

Praised for "her technical quality, the beauty of sound, and above all, the projection of an uncommon musical sensibility" (El Norte, Monterrey), Violinist Yezu Elizabeth Woo continues to push the boundaries of her art, always seeking new challenges and opportunities for growth. She recently joined The
Overlook, praised for its "breathtaking" and "paradigm-shifting" (New York Music Daily)
qualities, and a quartet dedicated to a more relevant and representative chamber music experience.


Yezu debuted at Carnegie Hall at the age of sixteen, where she became the youngest performer to play all twenty-four of Niccolo Paganini's Caprices for solo violin. Yezu has been invited to perform at the Lincoln Center, United Nations (NY), the Smetana Hall (Prague), Musikverein (Vienna), Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Berlin Philharmonie, and has recorded for EMI Classics, ECM Records, Ensemble Modern Medien, and MOOK Sound. Recently, the first comprehensive recording of all of Isang Yun's works for solo violin and with piano was released on KAIROS.


Winner of the Korean national award "Outstanding International Musician of the Year" by the Arts Critics Association (2002), as well as "Artist of the Year" by the Gangwon Foundation (2005), Yezu was appointed as Honorary Ambassador of the historic Woljeonga Temple (2023) and the City of Chuncheon (2016), where she currently serves as the Artistic Director of New York in Chuncheon Music Festival. This yearly chamber music festival takes place in Chuncheon, South Korea, with a mission to present world-class chamber music concerts, introduce contemporary music to new audiences, and inspire young music students through education and mentorship. Since its inception, the festival has given more than forty concerts in and around Chuncheon, with repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach to Dutilleux, Takemitsu, and Carter. This adventurous programming has resulted in Korean premieres of several major contemporary works, including John Zorn's Occam's Razor (2014), Caroline Shaw's Thousandth Orange (2019), Andrew Norman's Sabina from The Companion Guide to Rome (2019), and Nathan Schram's Woljeongsa I (2016) and II (2023). Committed equally to Korean traditional music and new music, Yezu has performed in Pyeongyang, North Korea (2008) and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) 'ART FESTA' as part of the ongoing peace process between the two Koreas, and collaborated with the KBS Korean Traditional Instruments Orchestra. She has also premiered over 20 works worldwide and worked with composers such as Rebecca Saunders, Unsuk Chin, Sir George Benjamin, and Heiner Goebbels.


Born in Freiburg, Germany, Yezu moved to the US from South Korea at age ten to study with Albert Markov. She received her B.M. Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, her M.M. Degree at The Juilliard School, her Performance Certificate from Bard Conservatory, and her Doctorate Degree at Stony Brook University. Her principal teachers include Albert Markov, Catherine Cho, Laurie Smukler, Arnaud Sussmann, and the members of the Emerson Quartet. Yezu is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (2019-20) in Germany, where she was a member of the Ensemble Modern Academy, Frankfurt, and a researcher at the Isang-Yun-Haus in Berlin.

 

Yezu is a member of Delirium Musicum and Berlin Academy of American Music and frequently appears with Ensemble Modern, International Contemporary Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Novus NY.

THE STRAD
"Her technique is solid, with a strong bow arm, deft left hand and well-projected sound."

DAILY REPUBLIC (San Francisco)
"Woo's tone was astounding, more powerful and serious than one expects in any young artist. Her material was demanding, far from fanciful and frivolous, and seemed to suit her. There are few light passages in the Sibelius, and changes in dynamics and mood were seamless; once the music was well-launched, the joining of orchestra and soloist was fairly seamless as well."
 
EL NORTE (Monterrey, Mexico)
"With an extraordinary combination of natural talent and a furious discipline, the Korean violinist amazingly achieved her technical quality, beauty of sound, and above all, the projection of an uncommon musical sensibility."

YOUR OBSERVER (Sarasota, Florida)
"Violinist Yezu Woo ... gave a colorful reading of four sections from Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat,” that was so filled with swagger, we hardly missed the narration."

Nam June Paik Tribute: "Action with a Violin on a String" & "One for Violin Solo"
06:51

Nam June Paik Tribute: "Action with a Violin on a String" & "One for Violin Solo"

For "Dol," a Korean celebration for the first year of a child, there is a tradition to lay out objects, and whatever the baby chooses is supposed to predict the future; a spool of thread means that the child will have a long life. Because of this close tie between life and thread in Korean tradition, it intrigued me that Paik put one on the violin to drag behind him for his "Action with a Violin on a String" (1961). Playing the violin has been my life for as long as I can remember, and I have been holding on to that thread in many different ways, dragging it along with me for over 30 years. Although sometimes I feel that the violin is dragging MY body along! I attended some seminars last year where a doctor mentioned that a musician's brain conceives their instruments not as objects but as humans because of the complicated emotional ties that develop throughout the years. "One for Violin Solo" (1962) is known for smashing the violin, but having performed it, the most fascinating part for me was the five minutes of slowly raising the instrument and holding it, creating so much tension and emotional turmoil. All my feelings and thoughts towards the violin passed by at supersonic speed. At its peak, this work allowed me to cross the line I would never have - but wanted to like 234045324 times - by smashing a 'Violin Shaped Object' (a violin-shaped wood box that produces noise/garbage). Still gruesome and brutal, but exhilarating. #namjunepaik was a genius artist who created a new art form through challenges and questions about tradition. For example, another famous work of his, 'TV Buddha,' was used to question "the role of the self in an era that intersects spirituality and technology." His works for solo violin also gave me a platform to question my role as an artist by exploring my complicated relationship with the violin !in an art form! which will definitely have a lifelong impact on me. Paik left a few notes about these works, so this is my take on it with an understanding of his other works and the #fluxus movement. Here is a humble tribute to this incredible artist who died on this day in 2006. «Action with a violin on a string» A violin can be made to produce sounds in various ways: with the aid of a bow in the classical mode of a string instrument, by smashing it on a table like Paik does in «One for Violin Solo» (1962), or by pulling it behind oneself on a string as in this action. Paik began to use the violin in this way in 1961. «One for Violin Solo» Over the course of five minutes, Paik very slowly and intently lifts up a violin in this on-stage action on 16 June 1962 – and then smashes it with one blow on the table. Simultaneously, the lights go up in the auditorium. After the long drawn-out suspense, only one, final sound has been produced by the instrument. -Medien Kunst Netz September, 2023 Berlin @wunderwald_films
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All photos by Neda Navaee

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