Irene Kim (l) and Benjamin Hoffman (r)
Monday, May 8, 2023
12 PM
Brightfeather is a dynamic and immersive violin-piano duo founded by violinist Benjamin Hoffman and pianist Irene Kim. Through deeply personal performances, Brightfeather is committed to bringing the light, hope, and strength of music to audiences across the globe. The duo has performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and presents repertoire spanning an extensive range of time periods and musical languages.
Pianist Irene Kim, a critically acclaimed prizewinner of international competitions, has performed across the globe in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australasia. She is known for her powerful and authoritative performances, which include the rare feat of performing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto without a conductor. Irene has garnered top prizes at the Liszt International Young Artist, Carmel Music Society, Korean Concert Society, Yale Gordon, and Russell C. Wonderlic competitions, among others. She debuted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has performed at venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Musco Center for the Arts, Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Library of Congress, and Coachella.
Fascinated by the music and art of her contemporary surroundings, she works frequently with living composers and collaborates with visual artists and dancers. Her training as a conductor and piano technician informs her performance practice and instruction. She holds a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Boris Slutsky, Benjamin Pasternack, and Leon Fleisher and was awarded the Albert and Rosa Silverman Memorial Scholarship and the Lillian Gutman Memorial Piano Prize.
Violinist Benjamin Hoffman has been heard across Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and North America giving countless performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. He has performed alongside artists such as Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, Peter Frankl, Wolfram Christ, Jorja Fleezanis, and Gary Hoffman, in various chamber music formations at festivals such as Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen, and Music Academy of the West. In his Carnegie Hall debut, he performed Aaron Jay Kernis’s Mozart en Route and Hindemith’s Kammermusik Nr. 1. He had the honor of performing before former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a member of Sejong Soloists at the United Nations in New York.
Hoffman has served as concertmaster from an early age, performing both symphonic and chamber orchestra repertoire without conductor. He has led the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of John Adams at Avery Fisher Hall in New York to critical acclaim and has appeared as guest concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Sichuan Orchestra of Chengdu, and Symphony Song in Seoul, Korea. His performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto was praised for his “virtuosity and deep feeling … impeccable intonation [and] a stirring, inspired performance.” Other appearances as a soloist have included numerous concertos as well as works ranging from solo Bach to Brahms’s Double Concerto to contemporary premieres in venues such as the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, China.
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in C minor, BWV 1017
Largo
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor, K. 304
Allegro
Tempo di Menuetto
Joel Hoffman (b. 1953)
never odd or even | not New York, Roy went on
What the West Wind Said
Nothing Better than Mother
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in A minor, op. 105
Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck
Allegretto
Lebhaft
Free concerts at noon every Monday from fall through spring . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970 at the Athenaeum, and has been going strong ever since. The concerts feature both local and touring musicians, prize-winning students, university music faculty members, local chamber ensembles. . . and the repertoire also includes jazz, folk and world music. There are no reservations, no tickets . . . just line up at the side door of the Athenaeum before noon. (Donations are always welcome!) Mini-Concerts take place every Monday at noon and last about an hour.
The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Doors open at 11:50 a.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. These events will be presented in compliance with State of California and County of San Diego health regulations as applicable at the time of each concert.
Masks optional. If you have a fever, cough, or flu-like symptoms, please stay home.