The first recital in Korea by Kim Sa-ra, Braunschweig’s solo violist

“I’ve never topped in a competition with a violin.”

Kim Sa-ra, 28, a violist, said, bursting into laughter, at the Kumho Art Hall on Monday. She was a violinist until 2010.

Her parents recommended her to play a violin. Born with musical talent, she studied at Gnessin Russian Academy of Music and got into the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, Germany in 2006.

“When I studied in Russia, I was told I was pretty good," Kim said. "Though I was a foreigner, many asked me to perform together. I dreamed of becoming a concert master in a famous orchestra.”

When she got into college, she was shocked to see many outstanding violinists. She doubted whether she could be a good violinist. Instead, she picked up a viola.

“Each musical instrument has a good fit. I’m slow and leisurely. The high pitched and sensitive tone of a violin was not good fit for me. I borrowed a viola in a college storage room and played it, and then I thought this is it.”

In March 2010, she became a violist. Three months later, she topped in an international competition that she joined to test whether her choice was right. She had never topped in a competition as a violinist.

“I won the top place six times in eight international competitions including the 2015 Felix Mendelssohn Prize. When I sometimes play the violin, I make the sound of the viola and use its vibrato.”

She has become a solo violist of the Braunschweig state orchestra, one of the best orchestras in Germany. Last year, she was the first Korean violist to join the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra last year. Kim Min, a retired violinist, was the only Korean musician in the Bayreuth Festival.

“Aside from your performance, the members of the orchestra selects musicians with the recommendation by at least two members. There is no audition. Fortunately, violists who performed with me or who thought good of me recommended me and I was able to be on the stage. I was invited to Bayreuth for next year again.”

She will have a recital as part of the “Rising Star” series at Kumho Art Hall on Feb. 2. It is her first recital in Korea.

“As my family moved to Russia when I was six and lived only in Germany and Russia, I had few opportunities to perform in Korea," the violist said." I’d like to introduce myself, a violist, and my music in this recital. For me, it’s another beginning.”

Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com