International violinist, pianist and tenor delight intimate Mbombela crowd
MBOMBELA - On October 30, the internationally acclaimed violinist Hana Yim-Wahl and the Lowveld Chamber
Music Association delighted a small group of invited guests during a midday concert of rapturous classical and contemporary favourites.
Accompanied by two of South Africa’s top classical musical artists, pianist Tobias Kruger and tenor Walter Fourie, the trio played a selection of Beethoven, Massenet, Rachmaninoff, Giordano and Debussy.
Yim-Wahl, an American-Korean who moved to South Africa in 2007, is currently a member of the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra (JFO) and freelances with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Johannesburg Music Initiative. She has played with the Manassas Ballet Company, the Prince William Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.
Being a member of the JFO has afforded Yim-Wahl the chance to play with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé and Dave Stewart, and she has also played with Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham and Hilary Hahn, who are considered among the best violinists in the world. She is one of the founding members of the Scullery Quintet, a crossover jazz/classical quintet.
The Sunday concert was exquisitely rounded off with contemporary American composer Jay Unger’s “Ashokan Farewell”, local composer Johannes Petrus Lemmer’s “My siel is siek van heimwee”, and finally, Bach’s Toccata in D minor.
In Unger’s composition, which remembers the American Civil War, Fourie recited soldier Sullivan Ballou’s heart-rending farewell letter to his wife.
The Lowveld Chamber Music Association’s next concert will be the Christmas concert on November 26.
Contact Walter at lowveldchambermusic@ gmail.com.