Taek Gi Li Photograph John Cole

An evening in with… Taek Gi Lee

This Friday evening, 12 June,  Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition prizewinner, Taek Gi Lee will join us for a live performance of beautiful music, writes Chris Cormack.

Taek Gi Lee photo: John Cole

The fourteenth in this series features 2014 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Winner, Taek Gi Lee, who has lost none of his flair; he won first prize at the Hastings International Piano Competition with his interpretation of the notoriously challenging Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 and received unusually warm accolades.

“We felt that, if all goes well, we were listening to someone who is going to become one of the world’s leading pianists,” said Professor Frank Wibaut,  Artistic Director of the competition and Chairman of the Jury. The Hastings Observer said winner Taek Gi Lee ‘mesmerised the judges’ and Lark Reviews wrote that he was clearly a name to watch for in the future.

In 2018, Taek transferred from the Juilliard School to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but continues his music study with Professor Robert McDonald. After winning numerous competitions, he was selected for a Daewon Cultural Foundation scholarship.

Programme:

S. Rachmaninov – Etude Op.39, No.3 – A quirky but very difficult study in repeated notes with the weak fingers.
S. Prokofiev– Piano Sonata No.7 – “Stalingrad”, second of the three War Sonatas, first performed on 18 January 1943 in Moscow.

In these times when the livelihood of our musicians is at risk, this series supports the careers of HIPCC prizewinners and, of course, they receive a performance fee.

The concerts are free to view, but viewers are able to make a voluntary donation to Hastings International Piano Engagement Fund, or choose to join as a Friend.

Watch live here on this page (the video will appear just before 8pm on Friday) or by visiting our Facebook page.

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