 "Photo: Steven Sweeney")
Kangho and Minyoung Lee, cellist and pianist for the renowned Lee Duo, received a standing ovation for their performances at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts Tuesday. The concert drew and captivated an audience of all ages and backgrounds. The two renowned Korean musicians both have extensive resumes and have played all over the world in many major European, Russian and Korean cities. Yesterday, their travels took them to UConn.
The program featured two sonatas by Benjamin Britten and Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, as well as a variation on Handel's Judas Maccabaes written by Beethoven. Audience members were impressed. "I was amazed," said Isabella Pilato, a 5th-semester English and classics double major. A former violist herself, she was awed by the expertise exhibited by the duo. "The pieces that were played require incredible stamina," she said. Most of the compositions that were performed were over thirty minutes long.
Audience members said that the featured pieces were carefully chosen. Kathleen Mosel, a prospective student and cellist from Southington, remarked on the program's variety. "There is a good range of music," she said. "They did a good job picking what to play."
Pilato agreed with Mosel, saying that her favorite was the sonata written by Britten. "It was clearly written for the cello … the composer must have known the instrument extremely well," she said.
The two capped off the concert with an impromptu performance of two audience-pleasing compositions - the first, a short tango that Kangho confided was his favorite to play for the holidays. The second was a medley of "Silent Night" and the popular English folk song, "Greensleeves."
The Lee Duo's first commercial CD was recently released. They charitably donated five hundred to the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Each CD sold that night went towards funding Jorgensen's Outreach for Youth, a foundation dedicated to exposing children to the arts through public school programs, in-school outreach and residency programs, and free Jorgensen tickets and transportation assistance for disadvantaged children.
"I'm auditioning [for the program] next year," said Pilato's sister, Madelyn, who hopes to one day major in music as well.
Kangho Lee started playing the cello at a very young age. By the time he was 12 years old, he had debuted with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, he has played with many prestigious groups such as the Korean Broadcast System (KBS), The Euro-Asia Symphony, the Sofia National Academy Orchestra and the Halle Philharmonic. Lee is the director of the UConn Cello Festival and the UConn Chamber Music Festival, which was called "[a] rhapsodic and richly colored performance" by the (New Jersey) Courier-Post.
Minyoung Lee has acquired an equally impressive repertoire of musical achievements. She has preformed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as both a soloist and a collaborative artist. Like Kangho, she played with the Koran Broadcast System and Seoul Philharmonic, as well as many other esteemed orchestras.
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