Jang Hye-won: From paper keyboards in war to 80-year milestone

Veteran pianist Jang Hye-won (84, honorary professor at Ewha Womans University, pictured) is set to celebrate 80 years of her piano journey with the '80th Anniversary Jang Hye-won Piano Concert' on the coming 10th at the Seoul Arts Center IBK Chamber Hall. In the concert's first part, she will perform piano works by Domenico Scarlatti and Gabriel Piernè, which gained her international recognition 20 years ago under the Naxos Classical International label. The second part will showcase six mini-concertos, which Jang and the Korean Piano Society commissioned from composers.

The six mini-concertos, each lasting three to five minutes, feature familiar melodies as their themes, including Na In-yong's 'Moonlit Night,' Shin Dong-il's 'Thinking of My Brother' and 'Spring Breeze,’ Jo Bong-hyung's 'Bird, Oh Bird,' and Kim Eun-hye's 'Arirang' and 'O Tannenbaum.' These will be accompanied by the Raum String Quartet.

"War broke out when I was in fifth grade of elementary school. Even during the war, my mother drew piano keys on paper for me to practice. Fortunately, my teacher, Lee Ae-nae, also evacuated to Daegu so I could continue improving my piano skills. I am just thankful for a life always accompanied by music."

After graduating with a master's degree from Ewha Womans University, Jang was selected as a government-sponsored scholar to Germany, where she became the first Korean to receive an advanced performance degree from the Frankfurt State Conservatory. She served as a professor at Ewha Womans University for over 36 years and held positions such as the Dean of the College of Music at Ewha and Seoul Arts Colleges.


gustav@donga.com