Master in SCU: Korean Pianist Hae Sun Paik in Tune with Soochow’s Orchestra

On June 8^th, 2019, an audience of hundreds at National Concert Hall savored a night of music brought by the celebrated Korean pianist Professor Hae Sun Paik (白惠善), as well as the orchestra of Soochow University’s Department of Music under the batons of two professors of the Department Wei-Ming Hwang and Ching-Po (Paul) Chiang.

The concert concluded a series of events for the annual program “International Master in Soochow,” which this year invited Paik, the first female Korean pianist winning a prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition (piano, bronze, 1994), to perform at the University and to teach piano skills to Soochow’s students. The audience reacted truly well to her performance, and students were highly inspired and their skills sharpened by her teaching.

The concert, titled “A Night of Fantasy: Concert of Concertos” and mainly performed by the orchestra of SCU’s Department of Music, started with F. Suppe’s Light Cavalry Overture, followed by G. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Chiang as the conductor. The second half began with S. Rachmaninov’s Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 with Hwang as the conductor, and each half of the concert was led by an introductory briefing from the Department chair Guang-Lin Peng.

Toward the end, in response to the enthusiastic audience, Paik played two encore songs: G. Gershwin’s Someone to Watch Over Me and Chopin’s Nocturne No.20 in C sharp minor Op. posth, putting a perfect and memorable ending note for the event.

The Department of Music hoped this annual program with a large concert could open up students’ international vision and enhance their musical literacy by receiving instructions from and working with world-class masters, and at the same time give professional music performance that more and more audience look forward to every year.