Brian Son Wins Concerto Competition

By Colin Jung, Henry Yao

Sound suffused the Bowld as six of the Academy’s best musical soloists—prep Jane Park, upper Kiesse Nanor, lower Jesalina Phan, upper Sava Thurber, upper Vincent Xiao and upper Brian Son—performed in the 2021 Exeter Concerto Competition last Friday. Son was selected as the winner at the end of the night, with his captivating performance of Violin Concerto No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns, and will perform with the Exeter Orchestra this spring.

Upper and violinist Sava Thurber found the event to be a much-awaited performance at an in-person concert. “Since the beginning of quarantine, I have been practicing and live-streaming performances from my house. So it was really nice to be able to open up in a fantastic space like the Bowld. Prior to the performance, each performer got a few hours to work with the collaborative pianist in the Bowld, and it was in those rehearsals that my piece really came together,” Thurber added. “Getting a chance to play with another living, breathing, human in an acoustically wonderful hall after having practiced alone for a year was truly something else.”

A limited number of guests were allowed at the Bowld, with distancing and masking measures expected. Science Instructor Tatiana Waterman was among the guests at the Bowld. “[The musicians’] talent and hard work produced results as if we were in normal times. Nobody who in the future sees their recorded performances can know that this music was produced after 12 months of an epidemic that closed down the continents,” Waterman said. “I felt like the Resurrection at Easter came a couple of weeks early in the calendar this spring. I was surprised at myself how much this in-person concert experience moved me.”

Associate Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Chris Thurber also enjoyed the event, noting that the performers did excellently despite the restrictions. “Each performer managed mask-wearing with aplomb, despite the fact that masks make it harder to breathe deeply and quickly—both of which are required during a public music performance. I think that not having a large, live, in-person audience is more challenging. Performers draw energy from their live, in-person audiences and these performers did well with a small in-person audience,” C. Thurber said.

Prep and violinist Jane Park worried that wearing masks would pose a difficult task for the soloists. “Performing with and without masks are polar opposites, especially as a string player. There’s [the] added layer of pressure of whether or not you can actually see where your hands are, and as a string player, violinist to be specific, it [can be] unsettling,” Park said.

Upper and pianist Vincent Xiao, who performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto at the competition, expressed that the COVID-19 precautions did not significantly affect his performance. “From a piano soloist’s perspective, there wasn’t anything particularly strange about performing under COVID-restrictions—the masks don’t significantly inhibit breathing and aren’t much of a distraction.” Xiao said.

During his performance, Son stunned the crowd with his performance, including the three judges who determined him to be the winner. First of the three judges was John Page, an award winning conductor and current Music Director of the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra. Joining him was Joy Cline Phinney, a pianist who graduated from the Juilliard School, who has performed with numerous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Cellist Joshua Gordon, member of the Lydian String Quartet and artist member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society served as the third judge.

Son noted that the journey wasn’t without its difficulties. “With the Saint-Saëns in particular, I took a hefty break from it for a couple months in my upper fall term after having practiced it so intensely for six months.” Son said.

When asked how he was able to deliver such a stellar performance on Friday, Brian credited his parents and teachers, among others. “I’d like to give very special thanks to my teachers Mr. Lynn Chang, Ms. Jiyoon Jang, and Ms. Eva Gruesser for their compassionate and extraordinary violinistic guidance; PEA Orchestral Director Mr. Rohan Smith for his staunch support and enthusiasm for developing the instrumental ensemble program at Exeter into what it is today; and former Chamber Orchestra co-director Mr. Peter Schultz for his unfailing wisdom and musical humor.”

Perfecting the piece required intense practice, and Son delivered after searching for the balance between his own interpretation and the score. “There are fiery moments, like the cadenza-like introduction that undulates with chords, harmonics, and arpeggios. But there are also pockets of nostalgia, of innocence, that Saint-Saëns sparkles here and there, and those are the moments that require something more than just left-hand technique.”