Jennifer Koh via Matrix

Jennifer Koh I CURATE

Network Node

Name: Jennifer Koh
City/Place: New York City
Country: United States
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

CURATION

from this node by: Matrix

Life & Work

Bio: Recognized for intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance, violinist Jennifer Koh is a forward-thinking artist dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire, while promoting diversity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects, and has premiered more than 70 works written especially for her. Her quest for the new and unusual, sense of endless curiosity, and ability to lead and inspire a host of multidisciplinary collaborators, truly set her apart.

Ms. Koh continues her critically acclaimed series this season, including Limitless, The New American Concerto, Shared Madness, Bach and Beyond, and Bridge to Beethoven. Initiated in 2018 at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, Limitless is a commissioning project that engages leading composer-performers to write duo compositions that explore the artistic relationship between composer and performer. Performed by Ms. Koh and the composers themselves, these works appear on recording in September 2019, released by Cedille Records. Ms. Koh also performs music from Limitless at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre with composer-performers Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey, and at the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth with Mr. Iyer, presented by the Van Cliburn Foundation. The New American Concerto is Ms. Koh’s ongoing, multi-season commissioning project that explores the form of the violin concerto and its potential for artistic engagement with contemporary societal concerns and issues through commissions from a diverse collective of composers. This season, as part of the project, she gives the world premieres of Lisa Bielawa’s Sanctuary with the Orlando Philharmonic and Courtney Bryan’s Syzygy with the Chicago Sinfonietta, as well as the New York premiere of Vijay Iyer’s Trouble with The Knights at the Miller Theater. The New American Concerto launched with Ms. Koh’s world premiere of Trouble at the 2017 Ojai Music Festival, followed by a performance with The Knights at Tanglewood, and has since continued with a new concerto by Christopher Cerrone titled Breaks and Breaks, which she premiered with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in May 2018.

In recital, Ms. Koh performs music from her Bach and Beyond series, which traces the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas to 20th- and 21st-century composers, in Rockport, ME and at the International Women’s Museum in Washington, DC; and her Shared Madness commissioning project, comprising short works for solo violin that explore virtuosity in the 21st century, written for the project by more than 30 of today’s most celebrated composers, at SUNY Fredonia. In addition to experiencing Shared Madness in the concert hall, listeners are also able to hear recordings of the premiere performances and interviews between Ms. Koh and the composers via the Shared Madness radio show, which originally aired on WQXR’s New Sounds (formerly Q2) during the summer of 2017 and remains available on demand. Another important project created by Ms. Koh is Bridge to Beethoven which she performs with her frequent recital partner Shai Wosner. Bridge to Beethoven pairs the Beethoven’s violin sonatas with new and recent works inspired by them to explore the composer’s impact and significance on a diverse group of musicians.

Ms. Koh performs a broad range of concertos that reflects the breadth of her musical interests from traditional to contemporary. Highlights of her orchestral appearances have included performances of such traditional repertoire as Bach’s Violin Concerti with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony led by Manfred Honeck and RAI National Symphony with James Conlon; Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Bramwell Tovey and St. Louis Symphony led by Nicolas McGegan; Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Munich Philharmonic led by Lorin Maazel; and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the Detroit Symphony led by Nicolas McGegan.

She has performed 20th-century works including Bartok and Berg concerti with the Milwaukee Symphony led by Edo de Waart; Bernstein’s Serenade with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Juanjo Mena and the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Lutosławski’s Chain 2 with the New York Philharmonic led by Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen; Scelsi’s Anahit with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel; and Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony led by Xian Zhang, the São Paulo Symphonies with Marin Alsop, and the Columbus Symphony led by Rossen Milanov. An advocate for music from our current millennium, she has performed Anna Clyne’s The Seamstress with the BBC Symphony led by Sakari Oramo, the Chicago Symphony led by Ludovic Morlot, and Cincinnati Symphony conducted by Louis Langrée; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with the Houston Symphony led by Christoph Eschenbach, Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, and Cincinnati and Gothenburg Symphonies conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali; and Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop.

This season, she plays Barber’s Violin Concerto with the New Haven Symphony conducted by Alasdair Neale and with the Springfield Symphony led by Peter Stafford Wilson, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Boulder Philharmonic conducted by Michael Butterman, Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic conducted by Alexander Mickelthwate, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Amarillo Symphony led by Jacomo Bairos.

Ms. Koh played the role of Einstein in the revival of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach from 2012 to 2014; and a particular highlight of her career was performing with St Vincent (Annie Clark) and S. Epatha Merkerson at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to Mr. Glass. She has also performed for former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama and former First Lady of South Korea Kim Yoon-ok in 2011.

Ms. Koh brings the same sense of adventure and brilliant musicianship to her recordings as she does to her live performances. She has now recorded thirteen albums, including Limitless in the fall 2019, with Chicago-based Cedille Records. Her previous recording for the label, released in 2018, is a collection of works by Kaija Saariaho, whose music she has long championed and with whom she has closely collaborated. Titled Saariaho X Koh, the album includes the chamber version of the violin concerto Graal Théâtre with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra; Cloud Trio with violist Hsin-Yun Huang and cellist Wilhelmina Smith; Tocar with pianist Nicolas Hodges; Aure with cellist Anssi Karttunen, with whom she premiered the violin and cello version in 2015; and Light and Matter with both Mr. Hodges and Mr. Karttunen, with whom she performed the French premiere in 2017.

Ms. Koh’s discography on Cedille Records also includes Tchaikovsky: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra with the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Vedernikov, Bach & Beyond parts 1 and 2 (with Part 3 scheduled for release in 2020); Two x Four in collaboration with her former teacher, violinist Jaime Laredo, and featuring double violin concerti by Bach, Philip Glass, and new commissions from Anna Clyne and David Ludwig; Signs, Games + Messages, a recording of violin and piano works by Janáček, Bartók, and Kurtág with Mr. Wosner; Rhapsodic Musings: 21st Century Works for Solo Violin; the Grammy-nominated String Poetic, featuring the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s eponymous work, performed with pianist Reiko Uchida; Schumann’s complete violin sonatas, also with Ms. Uchida; Portraits with the Grant Park Orchestra under conductor Carlos Kalmar with concerti by Szymanowski, Martinů, and Bartók; Violin Fantasies: fantasies for violin and piano by Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, again with Ms. Uchida; and Ms. Koh’s first Cedille album, from 2002, Solo Chaconnes, an earlier reading of Bach’s Second Partita coupled with chaconnes by Richard Barth and Max Reger. Ms. Koh is also the featured soloist on a recording of Ms. Higdon’s The Singing Rooms with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra led by Robert Spano for Telarc.

She is active not only in the concert hall and recording studio, but also as a lecturer and teacher. She is in residence this spring at Brown University, during which she will give a solo recital, perform with the university orchestra, and engage with students through master classes, talks, and seminars on topics including contemporary composition. In recent seasons, she has also been in residence at Cornell, Duke, and Tulane Universities, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and College, and University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2018, she was a keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion in classical music at the League of American Orchestras annual conference.

Ms. Koh is the Founder and Artistic Director of arco collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit that fosters a better understanding of our world through a musical dialogue inspired by ideas and the communities around us. The organization supports artistic collaborations and commissions, transforming the creative process by engaging with specific ideas and perspectives, investing in the future by cultivating artist-citizens in partnership with educational organizations. Ms. Koh is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for the Advancement for the Arts, a scholarship program for high school students in the arts.

Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Ms. Koh began playing the violin by chance, choosing the instrument in a Suzuki-method program only because spaces for cello and piano had been filled. She made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. She has been honored as “A Force of Nature” by the American Composers Orchestra and Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year. Ms. Koh was a top prize winner at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition, winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir.

Contact Information

Management/Booking: Representation:
Opus 3 Artists
470 Park Avenue South
9th Floor North
New York, NY 10016

Patricia Winter
phone 212.584.7525
fax 646.300.8225

Opus 3 Artists GmbH (Berlin)
Pariser Straße 62
10719 Berlin
Deutschland/Germany

Dr. Marcus Felsner
Managing director
phone +49 (0)30-889 101 54
fax +49 (0)30-889 101 70
[email protected]

Publicity:
Shuman Associates
850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1006
New York, NY 10019
(212) 315-1300
Connie Shuman
[email protected]
Lisa Jaehnig
[email protected]

Media | Markets

▶ Twitter: JenniferKoh1
▶ Instagram: jenniferkohmusic
▶ Website: http://jenniferkoh.com
▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jenniferkohviolin
▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCK8gdDRov35BTzQhORqjLGw
▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3mk3FmglVZ6RDBaPGTv4VB
▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/1PHSHP6LxTWBHNwIgbh0wl
▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/6YrympPZMzhrfI7yvXXqrs
▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/66QjgcCdgb9KEEkmbNU8eU
▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/0AAWK73Zhs7ZvydDcfrC8A
▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/0FqxVXTdJ4H30krKdQVzH7
▶ Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/arts/music/jennifer-koh-davone-tines-everything-rises.html

Clips (more may be added)

Jennifer Koh | CHRISTOPHER CERRONE "Breaks and Breaks"
By Jennifer Koh

372 views
Jennifer Koh with Chicago Symphony
By Jennifer Koh

363 views

Jennifer Koh Curated

What's Been Happening?

Christian Sands → Piano has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Christian Sands → New York City has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Christian Sands → Jazz has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Christian Sands → Composer has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Multi-Cultural has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Jazz has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Double Bass has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Curtis Institute of Music Faculty has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Composer has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Classical Music has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
Edgar Meyer → Bluegrass has been recommended via Jennifer Koh.
- November 26, 2019
A video was posted re Jennifer Koh:

Jennifer Koh | CHRISTOPHER CERRONE "Breaks and Breaks"
World premiere performance from May 26, 2018 Peter Oundjian, conductor Jennifer Koh, violin Detroit Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Hall 00:00 How many other th...
- September 5, 2019
A video was posted re Jennifer Koh:

Jennifer Koh with Chicago Symphony
Jennifer Koh's debut at age 11 with the Chicago Symphony, playing Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1
- September 5, 2019
A category was added to Jennifer Koh:

Contemporary Classical Music
- September 5, 2019
A category was added to Jennifer Koh:

Classical Music
- September 5, 2019
A category was added to Jennifer Koh:

Violin
- September 5, 2019
Jennifer Koh is matrixed!
- September 5, 2019

em português →

ARE YOU MATRIXED?

"Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
We're touched too Mr Webber! (cello & Brazilian music fan)

"Matrixado!"
✅—Founding Member Darius Mans (economist, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini (piano, Blue Note recording artist)

"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals (klezmer fiddle; founder of The Klezmatics)

"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad (composer & piano; compositions recorded by Yo Yo Ma and played by orchestras around the world)

This is a matrix in the original sense of "source" ("matrix" derives from "mater", Latin for "mother"). The platform was built in Bahia, Brazil in order to provide a means by which Bahian artists could be reached from around the world. But there's a beautiful catch: To work for these people the platform must work for ALL in the global creative economy. The matrix must engender an INTEGRATED GLOBAL CREATIVE ECONOMY.
How a) Inside this matrix you have a node (a page) — a calling card to the universe — from which you can curate (recommend) other people in the network, and by which they can recommend you.
How b) In mathematics there is something called "the small world phenomenon". Human society is "small world" (which is how most of the 8 billion of us of are within some 6 or so steps of each other). Neurons in the human brain are "small world". The internet is "small world".
How c) This matrix is "small world". Nodes tend to be a small number of steps apart. You can potentially step from any node to any other. You can get to João do Boi from Quincy Jones in 4 steps. And from Quincy Jones to you.
Participation is free to people. Businesses outside of Bahia, Brazil will be levied a nominal fee.
Artificial intelligence not necessary. Real intelligence, yes. The matrix is a real mother for ya! Odoyá!

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, mgr)
✅—Kamasi Washington

← in english

VOCÊ ESTÁ NO MATRIX?

"Muito obrigado por isso - estou tocado!"
✅—Julian Lloyd Webber
Estamos tocados também Sr. Webber! (violoncelo & fã da música brasileira)

"Matrixado!"
✅—Membro Fundador Darius Mans (economista, doutorado, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); presidente eleito do Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

"Estou realmente agradecido... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
✅—Nduduzo Makhathini (piano, artista da Blue Note)

"Obrigada, esta é uma ideia brilhante!!"
✅—Alicia Svigals (violino klezmer; fundadora da The Klezmatics)

"Este é um trabalho super impressionante! Parabéns! Obrigada por me incluir :)))"
✅—Clarice Assad (compositora & piano; composições gravadas por Yo Yo Ma e tocadas por orquestras ao redor do mundo)

Este é uma matrix no sentido original de "fonte" ("matrix" deriva de "mater", latim para "mãe"). A plataforma foi construída na Bahia, Brasil, a fim de fornecer um meio pelo qual artistas baianos pudessem ser alcançados de ao redor do mundo. Mas existe um porém lindo: Para funcionar para essas pessoas a plataforma deve funcionar para TODOS na economia criativa global. O matrix deve gerar uma ECONOMIA CRIATIVA GLOBAL INTEGRADA.
Como a) O matrix é uma rede de pessoas/entidades na economia criativa global. Você tem um nó (uma página) — um cartão de visita para o universo numa lista de informações do século 21 que circula o mundo — de onde pode selecionar (recomendar) outras pessoas na rede, e elas podem recomendar você.
Como b) Na matemática existe algo chamado "o fenômeno do mundo pequeno". A sociedade humana é um "mundo pequeno" (que é como a maioria dos 8 bilhões de nós estão dentro de mais ou menos 6 passos de um ao outro). Os neurônios no cérebro humano são um "mundo pequeno". A internet é um "mundo pequeno".
Como c) Este matrix é "pequeno mundo". Os nós tendem a estar separados por um pequeno número de etapas. Você pode potencialmente passar de qualquer nó para qualquer outro. Você pode chegar ao João do Boi de Quincy Jones em 4 etapas. E de Quincy Jones a você.
A participação é gratuita para pessoas. As empresas fora da Bahia, Brasil serão cobradas uma taxa nominal.
Inteligência artificial não necessária. Inteligência real, sim. O matrix é uma verdadeira mãe! Odoyá!

"Thank you"
(Banch Abegaze, empresário)
✅—Kamasi Washington

FAQ

Q: Why an Aleph on matrix node headers?
A: One of several inspirations for the matrix was the Aleph in Jorge Luis Borges' story of that name, itself certainly inspired in the Kabbalah.