Korean-American violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill had a fansign event for his new album, ‘DUO’, on March 23rd. Exactly one week later, the ‘DUO’ recital was held at the Incheon Culture and Art Center.
In a classical music concert, the typical instruments that comes into people’s minds would be the violin, cello, clarinet, or flute. However, O’Neill popularized the viola through many recitals and concerts worldwide, especially in Korea. Through his performances, he is recognized as one of the most dedicated violists to emanate a beautiful melody of the unfamiliar instrument.
In an interview during the fan sign event, he explained about the recital in Korea and the DUO album. He mentioned that this was the 9th album working with Universal Classics, featuring the greatest composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven. All the pieces in the album are duets with fellow musicians; another violist, a violinist, and a cellist, hence the title of the album, ‘DUO’.
His philosophy for music is another thing to talk about, along with the great performances at the recital. He pointed out in the interview, “I have this belief that if you use your mind, you can control your body, but it works some of the time. We have different things in our gift of life. About resources and what we decide to do with it. I have a lot of interests, and I try to do it 500%. If you’re going to do something, you need to do it right. The commitment and the process of pushing into the limit is really helpful. There are many things you can do, it just takes a little bit of effort in your life.”
At the ‘DUO’ recital, the first part of the concert consisted of only duet or quartet songs, whereas the second part had many concertos in collaboration with the DITTO Chamber Orchestra. After this tour in Korea, within the next few months, he will come back with his fellow ensemble members for the DITTO festival in June. O’Neill and his management, Credia International, started out as the DITTO ensemble in 2007 and grew to the level of a music festival. With the slogan “Be the Original”, this year’s festival will start off with O’Neill and pianist Dong-Hyek Lim’s duo performance on June 7th. Another major performance is DITTO’s collaboration with the legendary cellist, Mischa Maisky, on June 12th. Finally, the finale will be the ensemble DITTO’s “ep.10+1” performance on June 23th. All of these performances will be in the Lotte Concert Hall.
Hyunseon Kim | Reporter
hkim204@masonlive.gmu.edu
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