SUNY Potsdam is thrilled to be hosting internationally renowned pianist and pedagogue Yong Hi Moon for a special performance on Monday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Moon will be playing Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations,” considered one of Beethoven’s most difficult compositions. The “Diabelli Variations” are a monumental masterpiece and rarely heard.
She will also conduct a masterclass on Tuesday, April 18 at 2 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. Several students will have the opportunity to perform compositions of their choosing and receive feedback from Moon. This will provide a great opportunity for students, faculty and the general public to observe her teaching style.
SUNY Potsdam Professor Young-Ah Tak, one of the newest faculty members at the Crane School of Music, arranged for Moon’s visit to the College. As a young pianist in South Korea, Tak was able to study under Moon, who became one of her most influential teachers and mentors.
These events are free, and the public is invited to attend.
About the performer:
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Yong Hi Moon taught at Michigan State University School of Music as a professor of piano for fifteen years and since 2002 she has been a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Institute.
Moon studied at the Vienna Academy, graduating with the highest honors. She continued her studies in London before pursuing an Artist Diploma at Indiana University in Bloomington. Her major teachers include Dieter Weber, Maria Curcio, György Sebok, Leon Fleisher, Wilhelm Kempff and Fou T’song, who have always been inspirations in her work.
Moon made her solo debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age ten. She has won top prizes in the Elena-Rombro Stepanow Competition in Vienna, the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Italy, the Vienna da Motta Competition in Lisbon, Portugal and she received the Chopin Prize from the Geneva International Competition in Switzerland.
She has performed extensively as solo pianist, duo pianist and chamber music performer in the United States, Far East and Europe. She has also appeared with the Korean National Symphony and the Osaka, Seoul, and Tokyo Philharmonics. In 1975, the South Korean government invited Moon to perform in a festival to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Korean, and she continues to maintain a strong performing and teaching presence in her native country. To celebrate Mozart’s bicentennial year in 1991, she participated in a cycle of the composer’s complete piano concerti with the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, Moon undertook the complete solo piano works of Schubert, performing them in six recitals in both Korea and the United States.
Moon is in high demand as a guest masterclass teacher and adjudicator. In 1993, she released a popular teaching video in Korea entitled Artistic Piano Playing. Moon has been a regular faculty member at the Shandelee Music Festival, Aria Academy, Prague International Masterclasses, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Valencia Piano Academy, Rebecca Pennys Piano Festival and the Art of Piano Festival at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. In addition, she has been invited to perform and conduct master classes at Chautauqua Summer Festival in New York, the International School for Musical Arts in Canada, and the Gijon International Piano Festival. Recently she has given master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Korean National University of Arts.
For more information about SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution.
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