Violist Park Kyung-min / Courtesy of Lotte Concert Hall
There is a saying that “the best benefit is your colleagues.” Emphasized by Patty McCord, the legendary human resources chief at Netflix, it means that a work environment where you collaborate with capable, good-natured colleagues is itself the greatest reward. Violist Park Kyung-min, marking her eighth year as a tenured member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, stresses that several times a day she feels grateful for the time spent with good colleagues.
In a recent telephone interview with The Seoul Economic Daily, Park said, “There are many moments during performances when I feel a strong thrill from the beautiful sound my fellow players create.” She added, “I work so joyfully that it doesn’t feel like work, and even now I can’t believe that the Berlin Phil is my workplace.”
In 2019, she became the first Korean appointed as a tenured member of the Berlin Phil. Although Korean musicians have joined world-renowned orchestras one after another in recent years, she remains the only Korean member of the Berlin Phil to this day.
Since joining, she has occasionally visited Korea for chamber music performances and other events. This year, she is staying for about a month and appearing on major stages in her home country in succession. She is holding ensemble performances with Chung Myung-whun, Cho Seong-jin and others, and early next month she will perform at the Pyeongchang Music Festival with her husband, bassoonist Riccardo Terzo. Terzo, a native of Palermo, Italy, currently serves as principal bassoonist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
This marks the first time Park takes the chamber music stage with Cho Seong-jin in an official capacity. Although she has been well acquainted with Cho, who served as a resident artist of the Berlin Phil and has performed with the orchestra several times, they had never had a chance to play chamber music together. “He (Cho Seong-jin) contacted me first via KakaoTalk, saying ‘Let’s play together,'” Park said. “The other collaborators are also close friends, so I look forward to the ensemble’s chemistry.”
They will hold the “Cho Seong-jin Chamber Concert” starting at the Lotte Concert Hall on the 14th, followed by the Hwaseong Arts Center on the 15th, the Bucheon Art Center on the 16th, and the Busan Concert Hall on the 17th. Park, along with Berlin Phil principal players including Daishin Kashimoto (violin), Wenzel Fuchs (clarinet) and Stefan Dohr (horn), and the world-class cellist Kian Soltani will present Brahms’s chamber music.
Park explained the role of the viola by comparing a chamber ensemble to a tree. “The cello takes on the roots, the piano the trunk, and the violin, which plays the melody in the high register, corresponds to the leaves,” she said. “The viola, among them, can be called the branches.”
This means that while the viola is not the instrument that flamboyantly leads the melody, it connects and tunes the ensemble’s sound like the branches that link the entire tree. “Sometimes I feel wronged because people don’t really understand the importance of the viola,” she said with a laugh. She continued, “Sometimes it blends with the violin, sometimes with the cello, tuning the music extremely busily in the middle. Every instrument plays an important role, but I think the viola determines the quality of the sound.”
She said she has grown greatly as a musician since joining the Berlin Phil, considered the world’s finest orchestra. “There is much to learn from hearing and seeing different interpretations of the same passage,” she explained. “It is always motivating, and my perspective on music itself has broadened.” She added, “Even though each and every member is a top-level player, their passion for studying music is extraordinary. Though they are all outstanding individuals, they devote their utmost effort to producing one unified sound.”
Kirill Petrenko, the Berlin Phil’s chief conductor, is also a teacher to her. “When beginning rehearsals of a repertoire, Petrenko explains the historical background of the piece and the context of its composition, and clearly conveys his own thinking,” Park said. “He focuses on producing the right sound that matches the composer’s intention.”