In Sunday’s (4/29) Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker writes, “When the Detroit Symphony Orchestra takes the stage this week, a new violinist will be sitting in the prestigious concertmaster chair at the front of the violin section, just to the left of the music director Leonard Slatkin. Her name is Yoonshin Song, a 30-year-old violinist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and while she hasn’t been hired as the DSO’s concertmaster—the highest-ranking musician in the orchestra—she’s getting close. Song has emerged as the finalist after three rounds of auditions earlier this year and has earned a one-week trial. After the conductor, the concertmaster has the greatest impact on the sound, style and unanimity of the orchestra of any musician on stage. … The appointment of a new concertmaster is always a landmark in the life of an orchestra, but for the DSO the stakes are even higher. A standout hire would signal an artistic and psychological turning point in the drive to rebuild the ranks after last season’s tumultuous strike. … Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Song has been a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra since 2010. She studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston and Manhattan School of Music and has won prizes at a half-dozen international competitions.” Former Concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert left the DSO last spring to take a position at the Dallas Symphony.
Posted April 30, 2012
