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Press Releases
May 13 and 14: Emerald City Music Presents Insomnia in Seattle and Olympia
Emerald City Music Presents Insomnia
Featuring J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations arranged for String Trio
Violinist Kristin Lee, Artistic Director
Friday, May 13, 2022 at 8pm
415 Westlake | 415 Westlake Avenue N | Seattle, WA
Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 7:30pm
Washington Center Blackbox | 512 Washington St. SE | Olympia, WA
Tickets and Information: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
Seattle & Olympia, WA – Emerald City Music (ECM) presents the finale of its sixth season under the leadership of Artistic Director and violinist Kristin Lee this month. On Friday, May 13, 2022 at 8pm in Seattle (415 Westlake) and Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 7:30pm in Olympia (Washington Center Blackbox), ECM presents Insomnia, featuring J.S. Bach’s iconic Goldberg Variations arranged for string trio, performed by Kristin Lee, violin; Juan Miguel Hernandez, viola; and Efe Baltacigil, cello
In our busy world, rest comes with a price. 17th Century Count Keyserling was no stranger to restlessness. He suffered from insomnia and had hired a fourteen year-old boy, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, to play for him during his sleepless nights. Johann Sebastian Bach – now considered one of the greatest composers of all time – happened to be the music teacher of the young Goldberg and was requested by the Count to write some harpsichord pieces for Goldberg to play whenever he could not sleep. Bach produced this set of Variations based on this request, and Emerald City Music offers the masterpiece arranged for string trio.
For the Seattle performance, listeners can experience the Goldberg Variations however they feel comfortable – by bringing a sleeping bag/pillows and laying back, wandering around as they listen, or by grabbing a chair. Per usual, the bar will be open throughout the concert.
Full artist biographies and high-resolution images: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
Emerald City Music’s full COVID-19 Policy: www.emeraldcitymusic.org/
About Kristin Lee, ECM Artistic Director
A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.
In addition to her dynamic performing career, Lee was recently appointed to the faculty of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin. She is the artistic director of Emerald City Music in Seattle, a chamber music series she co-founded in 2015. Also an accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season, as well as a member of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair.
Kristin Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, and many others. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery.
Born in Seoul, Lee began studying violin at age five and within one year won First Prize at the Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the US to continue her studies under Sonja Foster and in 1997 entered The Juilliard School’s Pre-College. In 2000, Lee was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman after he heard her perform with the Pre-College Symphony. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School.
For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.
About ECM
Emerald City Music (ECM) is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts), ECM hosts world-renowned musicians in unique concert experiences in its South Lake Union home venue, 415 Westlake. Catch them on tour also in residence in Olympia, Bellingham, and New York City.
Founded in 2015, Emerald City Music produces and tours seven productions annually, with each tour visiting Seattle’s South Lake Union (415 Westlake, a chic contemporary venue with an open bar), Olympia’s Minnaert Center (a 495-seat modern concert hall), a once annual concert at the Bellingham Music Festival, and an annual concert in New York City.
ECM gained recognition regionally and nationally as a major player in the chamber music scene. Artistic Director Kristin Lee –– a touring violinist awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and who is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center –– is regarded for her innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre’s boundary past common limits. Emerald City Music made a name for itself beginning in its second season with a national collaborative commission with Grammy-winning composer John Luther Adams, and has continued to press the boundary of chamber music with accolades like a tour of Steve Reich’s iconic and rare Music for 18 Musicians, a pitch-black performance of Georg Haas’s “In the Dark” quartet, the West Coast debut of the Danish folk group The Dreamers’ Circus, and the World Premiere of the double Grammy-Nominated Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho, performed by Sandbox Percussion.
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