Violinist Jung-min Amy Lee Wins Irving M. Klein Competition
“Keep your eyes open. Watch the faces! That’s where the real drama happens!” That tip was offered last year to this first timer at the annual Irving M. Klein International String Competition in San Francisco by a feisty audience member identifying himself only as “a 72-year-old music addict,” one who claimed never to have missed the Klein since discovering it eight years ago. All in all, it wasn’t a bad suggestion: one contestant, 21-year-old violinist Jung-min Amy Lee, of Seoul, Korea, played with a face so alive with emotion, during her first-round performance of Bach’s Sonata No. 2 in A minor, certain members of the audience, the music addict included, had tears in their eyes.
Lee went on to take first place for 2004.
Even so, it is the music that draws the performers themselves; that and the glittering career-kicking prestige of being selected to compete in the first place, and perhaps, to some degree, the $10,000 first prize. The Klein, celebrating its 20th anniversary, will occur again June 8–11 (including a June 9 Gala Concert with past winners and the Alexander String Quartet). With a growing reputation for turning out winners who move on to enjoy professional acclaim, the yearly San Francisco–based string battle attracts cream-of-the-crop youthful competitors from various corners of the world. If last year’s attendance was typical, the Klein also draws a large number of classical-music lovers, including many who share a taste for high-stakes American Idol–style contests, to what is becoming known as one of the best violin-viola-cello shows in town. Whether you keep your eyes closed or open is entirely up to you. For details, visit www.kleincompetition.com or call (415) 282-7160
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