©Photo: Je Won Kim

Esther Yoo

Violin

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“In Yoo’s hands, the dreamy, swaying slow movement was like a ballet’s love adagio, and the final movement resembled a vivacious dancing festivity scene.”
(Helsingin Sanomat)

The Strad described Esther Yoo as “the model of a violin soloist in the modern age. Intelligent, articulate and self-possessed, she is so much more than a technical virtuoso.”

Esther began playing the violin at four-years-old and made her concerto debut aged eight. At sixteen she became the youngest prizewinner of the International Sibelius Violin Competition and two years later was one of the youngest ever prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2014 she became a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and in 2018 was selected as one of Classic FM’s Top 30 Artists under 30. In 2020 WQXR named her one of twenty Artist to Watch.

She performs with leading conductors – including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Myung-Whun Chung, Vasily Petrenko, Thierry Fischer, Karina Canellakis and Andrew Davis – and orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Seoul Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, BBC Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. She has performed at a range of prominent festivals, including BBC Proms and Aspen Music Festival, and has appeared in recital at Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra appointed her as their inaugural Artist-in-Residence in 2018, through which she participated extensively in educational and outreach projects, alongside concert performances in London and across the UK.

Esther has recorded the Sibelius, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky concertos for Deutsche Grammophon, who will soon also release her recordings of Bruch and Barber. She featured prominently on the soundtrack and accompanying disc of the feature film, On Chesil Beach, and is a guest artist on pianist Chad Lawson’s album breathe, both released by Decca Records and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

Deutsche Grammophon have also released two recordings by the Z.E.N. Trio, which she founded together with fellow BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, Zhang Zuo and Narek Hakhnazaryan, and which tours widely in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The first album includes works by Brahms and Dvořák; and is followed by Burning Through the Cold, featuring piano trios by Shostakovich, Babajanyan, Rachmaninov and Khachaturian.

Esther may be unique among classical soloists in being fully tri-cultural. She was born and spent her earliest years in the U.S., before receiving her education in Belgium and Germany, but she proudly retains her family’s Korean heritage. Having authentic roots in three continents contributes to her versatility and exceptionally broad range of expression, and is unquestionably a factor in making her one of the most articulate and gifted communicators in the field of classical music.

Recent years have brought many opportunities for Esther to demonstrate those skills. She curated a two-hour special programme for BBC Radio 3 and is frequent contributor to BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, The Arts Desk, and The Strad, which featured her on the cover of its August 2021 edition. She writes not only about repertoire and practice techniques, but also about less commonly explored areas, such as the mental health and wider well-being of musicians.

She hosts a video series on Youtube, ‘Artist Confidential’, where she talks with artists like Miloš, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Lina González-Granados and Julia Bullock on the hopes, fears, and perspectives of artists in the classical music space today. She also created a 3‑part video series “Journey Through Violin with Esther Yoo”, in collaboration with Kyobo Nobiliaire Arts & Culture, available to watch in Korean on its YouTube channel.

[정기공연] 글라주노프, 바이올린 협주곡｜Glazunov, Violin Concerto, Op. 82｜#서울시향 201016공연 © Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Esther Yoo - Bruch: Violin Concerto © Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Esther Yoo - Berlioz - Reverie et Caprice © BBC Concert Orchestra

Esther Yoo – Vaughan Williams: Lark Ascending (excerpt) © Camerata Lausanne/Pierre Amoyal

Z.E.N Trio album trailer

Esther Yoo- Tchaikovsky: “Danse Russe” © Classic FM

Esther Yoo - Sibelius: Violin Concerto (excerpt) © Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Esther Yoo - Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (excerpt) © The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra/Augustin Dumay

Esther Yoo - Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No.2 (excerpt) Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo © Sibelius International Violin Competition

“As individual artists, each of the three was magnificent. As a trio they were transcendent.”

(Z.E.N Trio, Limelight Magazine, 2022)

“Yoo’s ability to shift seamlessly from lyric sweetness to eye-popping technical brilliance, especially in music high at the top of the instrument’s range, paid dividends here.”

Aspen Times, July 2022

“Esther Yoo is a very original violinist, possesses a very clear phrasing, perfect intonation, and gave Bruch’s concerto that mix of intimacy and folk joy in the last movement, very characteristic of the work.”

El Comercio Asturias, June 2022

“What a magnificent violinist! Not even looking with a magnifying glass did we find the slightest hint of imperfection. Between the lyricism of the melodies and the brilliance of the execution of the third movement, with that set of double and quadruple stops, she raised such a big ovation, that Yoo thanked with an incredible version of the children’s melody ‘Yankee Doodle’ [= Wieniawski’s “Souvenir d’Amerique”]. Great Yoo!”

La Nueva Espana, June 2022

“She was vibrant-toned in Beethoven’s opening Allegro con brio and delicate in the following Adagio cantabile, while maintaining her big sound. In the Scherzo again there was strength, with crisp rhythms and the final Allegro was urgent and driving.”

(The Strad Magazine, December 2021)

“Faced with such a response from the audience, Esther Yoo played, in a true display of technical and sonic sleight of hand, the spectacular Souvenir D’Amerique-Variations burlesques, Op. 17 by Henri Vieuxtemps (…) which served to confirm the enormous artistic quality of this interpreter, who has become one of the leading soloists who have performed with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Málaga.”

(Coladiario Magazine, October 2021)

“Esther Yoo chose Henri Vieuxtemps’ Souvenir d’Amerique as the show-stopping encore, a reminder that achieving wonderful feats of bravura with a smile is home territory for her. Going rather deeper, Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice, possibly the highlight of the evening, brought out a wonderful instinct for pacing, and a deep sense of the freedom, invention and glorious sound she can muster.”

(The Arts Desk, September 2021)

“Few can match Yoo for sheer technique, dazzlingly displayed in Kreisler’s showcase Recitativo und Scherzo-Caprice.”

(The Guardian, September 2021)

“This was the second time I’d heard American-Korean violinist Esther Yoo play the Tchaikovsky concerto and the second time I’d been impressed by the poise and stillness of her playing. The tone of her 1704 “Prince Obolensky” Stradivarius is remarkably clean, her tuning impeccable, and she dashed through Tchaikovsky’s concerto with a good deal of panache.”

(Bachtrack, March 2020)

“Yoo’s first entrance was haltingly elegant, utilizing impeccable dynamic shading and articulation. Her melodies were a voice in search of words. Runs, trills, and tumbling arpeggios were clean yet incomparably smooth. Double stops were graceful, when so many have a harsh shading.”

(The Columbus Dispatch, January 2020)

“The [Glazunov Violin] concerto’s structural beauty, seamlessly melding its movements through a variety of moods and textures, was matched by Yoo’s exquisite sensitivity, and a palpable emotional rigour and maturity incredibly impressive in a musician so young.”

(Bachtrack, April 2019)

“It was a committed, commanding performance, full of passion and vivacity.”

(Peter Collins, Wales Online, May 2015)

“Esther Yoo has recorded [Glazunov’s Violin Concerto] with Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia. She has increased in confidence as a proselytiser for the work (…) Together they offered a convincing reading that begs the question why this Concerto is not heard more often, especially with Yoo’s Stradivarius with its satisfyingly sweet tone to enhance Glazunov’s invention.”

(Classical Source, April 2019)

“In her CSO debut, violinist Esther Yoo impresses in Prokofiev. Esther Yoo played the lyrical themes of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with a ravishing tone and a fresh, unaffected style. In her debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, the 24-year-old American-born violinist was a real discovery. (…) the audience was dazzled by her performance of Prokofiev (…)”

(Cincinnati Business Courier, March 2019)

“she gave a peerless, flawless rendition of Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor…she captured all the piece’s hauntingly melodious serenity, expressed in the most elegiac cadances… If the audience was deeply moved by the first two slow movements, the excitement of the finale was palpable…Her fingers were a mesmeric blur, soaring onwards and upwards towards the final thrilling ascending accelerando. The applause was thunderous”

(The Yorkshire Times,October 2018)

“Esther Yoo’s rendering (Sibelius Violin Concerto) was beautifully clean, with distinguished tonal luster and sinew…This was a softer and warmer approach to the work, and Canellakis’ orchestra (Vancouver) served as a key anchor in executing it convincingly…One expects great things from Esther Yoo.”

(April 2018, Vancouver Classical Music)

“Making her RSNO debut, violinist Esther Yoo was completely at home with the orchestra as she performed Mendelssohn’s violin concerto with tight dexterity and balanced grace and a tone which was lean yet strong, deliberate yet gentle. Her cadenzas sparkled, with seriously impressive ornamentation and silkily subtle double-stopping, though it was her dialogue with the orchestra which really showcased her command of the music.”

(The Herald, December 2017)

“The gorgeous, dark tone of her 1704 ‘Prince Obolenksy’ Stradivarius was a constant delight, suitably veiled in the Canzonetta and vivacious in the finale…Hers was an affectionate account of the [Tchaikovsky] concerto, the first movement’s ardent melody nobly phrased. [Yoo] is one of the most promising violinists I’ve heard in recent years. She never forces her tone and allows the music to speak for itself.”

(Bachtrack, October 2017)

“Esther Yoo, who has already played with the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Lorin Maazel, moved perfectly to the pulse of Pablo Heras-Casado — dynamic and with an emphasis on the melodic character of the work….which was well exploited by the violinist demonstrating scrupulous technique and sweeping passion.”

(Bachtrack, July 2017)

“It would, indeed, be difficult to imagine a more nobly poised take on this glorious score than this [Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto recording], with Esther Yoo sustaining a radiantly golden tone throughout even the most treacherous pyrotechnical terrain, captured in sound of tactile precision.”

(The Strad, September 2017)

“this is the finest version [Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto] to cross my path in the past year… Her dark, aristocratic tone is treasurable…She plays with compact vibrato and can pare her sound down to a fine pianoissimo without her 1704 ‘Prince Obolensky’ Stradivarius ever sounding undernourished…”

(Gramophone Magazine, August 2017)

“Violinist Esther Yoo closes season with impeccable artistry…From the moment she took the Gusman Hall stage, Yoo displayed impeccable technique, highly personal interpretive instincts and musical maturity far beyond her years.”

(South Florida Classical Review, May 2017)

“There was a magical moment in the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, played just before intermission. It came at the start of the slow second movement: a brief pause, a slight intake of breath, the lush opening notes taken so softly as to be barely audible. The impressive soloist, Esther Yoo, played with cool but expressive incisiveness. Her tone, compact and refined, with a fast, subtle vibrato, displayed an inspired kind of classicism that suits this emotive music perfectly.”

(Michael Anthony, Star Tribune)

“Of the soloists, it was BBC New Generation Artist Esther Yoo who owned the morning with a performance of The Lark Ascending that achieved an audience hush of a level that surely must be a first for an all-age concert; innocence, beauty, pain and effortlessness melded in a way that will lodge for years in the memory, and the audience roared its approval.”

(bachtrack.com, July 2016)

“Yoo commands a rich tone that can be pared to something silver-fine and her dynamic range is wide while her technique is excellent and music-serving. … Yoo is very expressive throughout, she is as intensely poised and then as fiery as you like, and her full timbre in high-lying passages is notable. It’s a smouldering account, biding its time to full emotional release, first in the unstintingly sympathetic orchestra and then in a full-on cadenza, Yoo unfazed by its technical hurdles.”

***** (Classical Source, May 2016)

“Esther Yoo, the youngest violinist to be placed in the International Jean Sibelius violin competition returned to the composer’s concerto for her debut recording. Hers is a rounded, vibrant performance, with red-blooded support from the Philharmonia under Vladimir Ashkenazy. Yoo is a convincing advocate, lavishing thick, dark tone on its long melodies.”

(The Guardian, February 2016)

“It’s easy to see what all the fuss is about in relation to the young Esther Yoo… What strikes you most is the richness of Yoo’s tone, combined with a radiant intensity in the Sibelius concerto, and joie de vivre in the Glazunov. She oozes confidence, rhythmic vitality, and a natural expressiveness that gives every phrase an engaging presence and freshness of thought.”

***** (The Scotsman, February 2016)

“Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, with BBC New Generation Artist Esther Yoo as the soloist was equally stunning. Yoo’s solo passages were bewitching, as she played her cadenza in the middle of the first movement with such a huge and intricate amount of detail it was almost hard to conceive the sounds were coming from just one instrument, and the balance between soloist and orchestra was just perfect under Ashkenazy’s intuitive direction.”

(Miranda Heggie, Herald Scotland, November 2015)

“There are times when a standing ovation feels like a courtesy…This was not the case on Friday evening when the young violinist Esther Yoo had the audience on its feet. Dazzling technique, empathy and presence. Everything was there.”

(Lars Westin, Arbetarbladet, May 2015)

“It is not often I get shivers down my spine, and tears in the corner of my eye, but it felt as if Esther Yoo played on strings also in my mind, transforming the music into a pure spiritual matter — a journey into an enchanted garden of memories… The following standing ovation was well deserved after this final performance — one of the pinnacles of this high-quality season.”

(Camilla Dal, Gävle Dagblad, May 2015)

“The performance of the young American violinist Esther Yoo led [the listener] into the serene, contemplative world of Mozart. [The violinist’s playing was] wonderfully sensitive and highly musical, combined with technical perfection, a secure instinct for the musical period and a great joy in making music. Add to that the beautiful sound of her violin, bright and silvery – the tone slightly grainy, the depths resonating and the highs floating.”

(WAZ, February 2015)

“Esther Yoo made [the opening of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in A major] blossom wondrously with her clear and intensely resonating violin tone and her highly sensitive interpretation.”

(Siegener Zeitung, February 2015)