AFTER HOURS: Thanks to Roger Federer
According to Susan McDuffie, Curtis Smith and Woori Kim met when Kim overheard Smith saying he wished he could find someone interested in attending a tennis match featuring Roger Federer in Cincinnati, and she blurted out, "I'll go!"
Fast forward several years and the two often appear together as soloists or as four hand pianists, referred to as "Les Quatre Mains," both playing one piano.
Last Sunday, Smith and Kim were introduced by McDuffie before their performance for the Music and the Arts series at Vineville United Methodist Church. Smith, a grandson of Anita and the late J.G. Etheridge, grew up in Macon in a family of tennis players so, no surprise that tennis might be an avocation.
His grandmother was pleased when the pianists received a standing ovation, which they obliged with an encore.
Louise Barfield, owner of Little Carnegie of the South, an arts and music venue on Forsyth Street, taught Smith piano when he was in high school. Afterward, he attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music and his master of music degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Concurrently, he is pursuing a doctorate of musical arts at CCM, where he is a graduate assistant in secondary piano, and an associate instructor of secondary piano at Indiana University. As if his academic responsibilities were not enough, he appears frequently as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist.
Kim, from Busan, South Korea, graduated summa cum laude from Seoul National University and earned her master of music degree and performer's diploma from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She was a student of the widely acclaimed concert pianist James Tocco, serving as his assistant while completing a doctorate of musical arts and receiving an artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati's CCM.
Kim continues touring as a soloist, and in chamber and concerto performances, while holding her current position as assistant professor of piano at Liberty University's School of Music in Lynchburg, Virginia.
As fellow pianists, their talents are complementary -- Kim playing the classics while Smith is an "enthusiastic champion" of lesser known and more contemporary composers. As a duo in the four hands selection, Franz Schubert's "Fantasy in F Minor, D. 940," his composition dedicated to student and partner at the piano, Karoline Esterazy, was interpreted with the longing for, and farewell to, memories and friends at the end of his career.
The cyclic form of recurring themes, which impressed Franz Liszt years after its popularity was established by Beethoven and Schubert, was evident in Cesar Franck's "Prelude, Choral, et Fugue, opus 21," played by Smith and repeating the theme that began in B minor but ended in B major, an unorthodox but familiar pattern that tied together the three movements.
"Les Jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este," with which Kim opened the concert, was inspired by Liszt's visit to a Roman cardinal's restored villa outside of Rome in 1867 where he was so enchanted by the fountains, that he wrote three volumes for piano titled "Annees de Pelerinage," translated "Years of Pilgrimage."
Kim's virtuosity shone in this water borne fantasy written during Liszt's bold first half of a career that ended in monastic living and reflection. Now familiar to Macon audiences, Kim will return to Macon to perform at Little Carnegie of the South in March.
COOKIES, COCOA AND CAROLS
From the crest of the hill where the Georgia Industrial Children's Home is located on Mumford Road, caroling filled the air and echoed in the valley last Monday evening, when Forest Hills United Methodist Church brought youth and adult choir members to sing Christmas carols on the columned porch for the residents of the Children's Home and volunteers who support the home.
After the performance, Linda Finley, program director at the Children's Home, and Tammy Humphries, Forest Hills' church administrator and former staff member at the home, partnered to create a festive wonderland, complete with homemade treats, hot apple cider and cocoa.
Amanda Burdick, food service manager at the home, who received her culinary training at the Helms Institute in Macon, prepared traditional Christmas cookies and some with a creative twist that would be the envy of the finest pastry chef.
Lisa Wicker, development director for the home, joined volunteers and the children for chocolate and peanut butter truffles and crispy, rice and marshmallow confections in the shape of candy canes, bells and boots, trimmed with red and green icing. Since school was out for the holidays, indulging in a little sugar only added to the evening's fun.
I hope all of you have enjoyed your holidays and look forward to a happy new year!
Katherine Walden is a freelance writer and interior designer in Macon. Contact her at 478-742-2224 or kwaldenint@aol.com.
This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "AFTER HOURS: Thanks to Roger Federer ."