Kevin Lee Sun — Winner of the 2018 Carmel Music Society Piano Competition

by Lyn Bronson
January 14, 2019

2018 Carmel Music Society Biennial Piano Competition winner Kevin Lee Sun appeared in recital yesterday afternoon at Sunset Center. It was, in retrospect, an oddly chosen program. The works on the first half, consisting of a Prelude & Fugue from Bach’s WTC II, the Fantasia nach J.S. Bach by Busoni and Schubert’s “Wanderer Fantasy,” were totally involving and demonstrated Sun’s ability to paint with a stunningly beautiful palette of colors while demonstrating a seemingly effortless total keyboard mastery. At the end of the first half, spontaneous bravos erupted from members of the audience, and he received a thunderous standing ovation.

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Archived in these categories: 20th Century, Carmel Music Society, Competition, Piano, Romantic Era

Carmel Music Society’s 2018 Piano Competition Awards Concert

by Lyn Bronson
June 10, 2018

1st Prize Winner Kevin Sun, 2nd Prize Winner Xiao Chen, 3rd Prize Winner Christopher Richardson

It was a grand occasion for local piano buffs yesterday when the Carmel Music Society held its 40th Piano Competition at Sunset Center. Six finalists competed from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm, each playing a half-hour solo program. At 3:30 Dr. Anne Thorp, Co-President of the Carmel Music Society announced that the judges had selected 24-year-old Kevin Lee Sun from Sacramento as the Grand Prize Winner, who, in addition to his cash award, will be returning to Sunset Center at 3:00 pm on Sunday, January 13, 2019 to perform a full recital on the CMS regular subscription series. Dr. Thorp then announced that 29-year-old Xiao Chen, who holds a Master of Music degree from Juilliard and a DMA from UCLA, was awarded Second Prize, and 19-year-old Christopher Richardson, a much lauded competition winner who is currently a pre-med student at UC Berkeley, was awarded Third Prize. Read full story →

Archived in these categories: 20th Century, Carmel Music Society, Piano

Carmel Music Society Presents Pianist Jeremy Denk

by James Neiman
April 30, 2018

Our music community was treated to an evening of Mozart, Prokofiev, Beethoven and Schubert by internationally renowned pianist Jeremy Denk. Mr. Denk is an artist of rare depth and sensitivity, and his breathtaking performance closed off another great season for the Carmel Music Society. In his remarks during the performance, Mr. Denk suggested that time and its role in accentuating the compositional structure and interpretation is a theme of artistic interest, and drew, through his exquisite interpretation, lines through all the works leading to Schubert’s masterpiece, his Sonata in B-flat Major, D.960. Read full story →

Archived in these categories: 20th Century, Carmel Music Society, Classical Era, Piano, Romantic Era

Carmel Music Society presents Israeli Chamber Project

by Heidi Van der Veer
March 27, 2018

Presented by the Carmel Music Society, the internationally-acclaimed chamber ensemble, the Israeli Chamber Project, completed its most recent tour at Sunset Center in Carmel on Sunday March 25th. According to the program notes, the ICP commissioned Yuval Shapiro to create an abbreviated musical arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, Petrushka, specifically scored for flute, clarinet, violin/viola, cello, harp, and piano. The players were Daniel Bard, violin, Michal Korman, cello, Guy Eshed, flute, Tibi Cziger, clarinet, Silvan Magen, harp, and Assaff Weisman, piano. Read full story →

Archived in these categories: Carmel Music Society, Chamber music

Carmel Music Society – American String Quartet

by Lyn Bronson
February 12, 2018

Yesterday afternoon at Sunset Center in Carmel, we had an opportunity to hear the American String Quartet, one of the most celebrated ensembles in the world. The players — violinists Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, violist Daniel Avshalomov, and cellist Wolfram Koessel — were at the top of their form and impressed us with their ability to breath new life into some very familiar masterpieces. Read full story →

Archived in these categories: Carmel Music Society, Chamber music, Classical Era, String quartet