{"id":45367,"date":"2017-05-18T22:14:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T02:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=45367"},"modified":"2017-05-19T13:10:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T17:10:59","slug":"scrutiny-two-remarkable-coc-ensemble-artists-leave-the-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/05\/18\/scrutiny-two-remarkable-coc-ensemble-artists-leave-the-nest\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Two Remarkable COC Ensemble Artists Leave The Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hyejin
Hyejin Kwon and Charles Sy take a final bow as COC Ensemble Artists. (Photo: Joseph So)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Les Adieux: Charles Sy and Hyejin Kwon in Die sch<\/em><\/strong>\u00f6ne M<\/em><\/strong>\u00fcllerin. <\/em>May 18 at the\u00a0Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To Torontonians, spring means welcoming warmth and outdoor fun, but for followers of the COC Ensemble Studio, it\u2019s also a bittersweet time of sad goodbyes followed by new beginnings. Such was the case today at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, as tenor Charles Sy and pianist Hyejin Kwon, two of the finest COC Ensemble artists, bade farewell in a recital of Schubert\u2019s immortal Die sch<\/em>\u00f6ne M<\/em>\u00fcllerin<\/em>. The RBA was filled to overflowing by an appreciative and in the end very demonstrative audience.<\/p>\n

I first heard the voice of Sy and the playing of Kwon some years ago, when they were still at the University of Toronto, and I\u2019ve always thought they had a lot of potential. Their tenure at the COC Ensemble have amply demonstrated continued and remarkable artistic growth, from what I witnessed in the many performances I\u2019ve seen. Two years is the typical tenure for an ensemble member, so it\u2019s time for these two artists to say goodbye and spread their wings. Judging by the performance today, both Sy and Kwon are completely ready for primetime.<\/p>\n

One of the most beloved of song cycles, Die sch<\/em>\u00f6ne M\u00fcllerin, <\/em>is an \u201cextended\u201d cycle with twenty mostly strophic songs and lasting about an hour. I can only think of Die Winterreise<\/em> being longer at 24 songs and about 70 minutes. Given the sheer amount of text and the many repeats, it\u2019s a huge challenge for the singer. Sometimes there\u2019s a music stand, and we make allowances for the singer, like \u2014 \u201coh he\/she sings mostly opera and doesn\u2019t have time to memorize\u2026\u201d etc.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, using the score creates a barrier between the soloist and the audience. I give Charles Sy full credit for having committed it to memory, and without faltering at all. Well done!<\/p>\n

The piano writing of DsM<\/em> is technically quite demanding as song cycles go. The piano doesn\u2019t follow but lead, setting the tempo and tone, of course, the pianist should be in total support of the singer. This cycle requires someone with the technical assurance to lead, yet with the ability of give and take, and also a firm vision of the overall architecture of the piece. To my ears, Hyejin Kwon fulfilled all these requirements brilliantly this afternoon, always supportive of the singer, yet seizing every opportunity to shine pianistically \u2014 after all it was also her<\/em> farewell! The lid on the Steinway was fully open, and at the very beginning, I worried it might overwhelm the tenor. But as Sy warmed up, his volume was fine and there was no forcing. It was a fine collaborative effort.<\/p>\n

A bit of a surprise, from such a sophisticated audience – there was spontaneous applause after \u201cMein!\u201d I don\u2019t think the audience was gauche, just simply that Sy sang it very beautifully, with exuberance, dramatic urgency, and vivid imagination. His approach was extroverted and operatic, with lots of facial and gestural expressions, a bit melodramatic if you will \u2014 a \u201cDrama Queen\u201d approach but in a good way! I\u2019ve heard enough Liederabend<\/em> in my lifetime that I know some interpreters are very understated. I recall a very famous singer where for the whole recital she did not raise her forearms above waist level! \u00a0For my money, I want the emotions to come out, not bottled up inside.<\/p>\n

A final thought \u2014 yes, it was sad that this concert marked the \u201cschwanengesang\u201d of both artists, but let\u2019s hope that they\u2019ll return as guests in the future. As I\u2019m fond of pointing out in my previous reviews of farewell concerts by young artists, leaving home is a good<\/em> thing, a sign of maturity and readiness to tackle the big world out there.\u00a0 As Brunnhilde sings to Siegfried in Act One Gotterdammerung<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 \u201cZu neuen Taten, teurer Helde,\u201d let\u2019s wish both artists good luck in their future new deeds.<\/p>\n

For more REVIEWS, click HERE<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Spring comes a bittersweet time of sad goodbyes followed by new beginnings for the COC Ensemble Studio Artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":45369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,76,19,43,52,70],"tags":[628,5130,6145,6156],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/05\/FullSizeRender_3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-bNJ","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45367"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45384,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45367\/revisions\/45384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45367"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=45367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}