Professional violinist and virtuoso Chee-Yun is just arriving at her hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, when I give her a call. Three days before she was playing with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and a few days before that: at New York’s Lincoln Center.

And on May 2, Chee-Yun will reunite with the Fairfax Philharmonic Orchestra as a guest soloist, playing Concerto Dei Fiori by contemporary composer Borodova, among other pieces. The concert will be directed by long-time friend Christopher Zimmerman.

Chee-Yun’s fast paced concert schedule and the endless array of music filling her head may lead one to assume that she is one weary traveler, pressed for time, and naturally in a hurry to answer journalistic curiosity.

Instead a sprightly and energetic voice greets me by my first name, “I’ll be in my hotel room in about five minutes; do you mind giving a call on the land line?”

This much is clear about Chee-Yun in the first five minutes of talking to her. She speaks three languages: Korean, English, and Music. But music is undoubtedly her first language.

Chee-Yun pursued the piano growing up, but stopped after her mother’s concern that she was becoming cross-eyed from intense concentration and practice.

“I think she was right, though, I was going cross eyed,” she said. So, Chee-Yun picked up the violin and found that she was advancing ten times faster than on the piano. Naturally, she stopped practicing as much.

Chee-Yun’s mother decided to enter her into the Korean Times competition in Seoul to show her how much practice she still needed. To her mother’s surprise, eight year old Chee-Yun walked off with grand prize.

“At that point, my mother said oh, maybe she’s pretty good.” Since then, Chee-Yun has built an illustrious career as a classical musician, spanning over two decades.

She has traipsed the globe, recording music and performing with the world’s most celebrated orchestras including the National Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hong-Kong, and Germany. She has also performed for notable politicians and celebrities such as Rudy Giuliani, Angelica Huston, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Bill Clinton in 1993.

“That was such a special experience,” said Chee-Yun recalling her performance at the White House for Bill Clinton, “It was during the time of his inauguration and everyone was so excited. And Bill Clinton is so much better looking in person than when you see him on TV,” she laughed.

Were you nervous?

Absolutely, Chee-Yun insists emphatically. “I still get nervous when I play in front of even small audiences because I have this once chance to do well and leave a really good impression. “ Probably not hard to do when you entered the prestigious Juilliard School at the age of 13 and studied closely under Dorothy Delay, a celebrated tutor to some of the most acclaimed violinists of the 20^th century.

For Chee-Yun, Delay was more than just a tutor.

“Dorothy Delay was the greatest teacher in the world. She was a psychology major, so she understood and knew how to deal with her students well. She knew that negative teaching wasn’t going to work for me, so she was always extremely positive. She taught me that if I wanted to be a concert violinist I needed to prioritize my life and make violin number one.”

Chee-Yun admits that making violin number one, however, was difficult growing up.

“Dorothy saw a little bit of rebellion in me. I wanted to date boys, go to parties, all those things. Dorothy said you may, but you must practice. Believe me, with the amount of practice I had to do there was barely any time for anything else,” Chee-Yun laughed wryly.

“But you know,” she reflects, “the sacrifices I made are so small in comparison to what I’ve gotten. The gratification I get from putting on a concert is better than anything I have ever experienced.”

Her audience likely share the same feeling of gratification, as Chee-Yun so deftly channels her emotions through every note, directly into the hearts of her spectators.

There is a back story and image to every piece played, Chee-Yun said. It’s something she was taught to do from the age of 14 when Delay asked her to discuss what she visualized and felt with each song.

“I think of scenes from movies and stories. I go back and try to figure out what the composer was going through when he wrote the piece. Emotions like frustration can really come through. You have to really get to the know composer. It takes times and a lot of research,” she said.

Chee-Yun also reflects her own life experiences and inspirations into her music while performing. It is one reason why she can never get sick of playing a song over and over.

“The song I played when I was 14 isn’t the same as when I play it now,” she said. “Performing music is such a changing evolving process and you never know how it will go exactly until you’re up on stage. But that’s what so fun about it. It never stays in one place. It changes and will always change.”

When Chee-Yun is not on the road, she can be found with her students having recently been made a full-time professor at Southern Methodist University.

“I make sure my students are well fed and well taken care of,” Chee-Yun said, “My teacher really looked out for me. I want to be a good psychologist. I want them to be happy and healthy minded students so they can really spend a lot of time and energy on their music. I love seeing them grow professionally and personally, and I can see why I my teacher loved teaching.”

Saturday, May 2, 2009
George Mason University's Center for the Arts
4373 Mason Pond Drive; Fairfax, VA 22030

HAYDN: Symphony No. 39
BODOROVA: Concerto dei Fiori
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10
Free ConcerTalk by Christopher Zimmerman at 7:00 p.m.
Concert begins at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets begin at $25.