Violinist Patrick Yim's One documents his activities commissioning, premiering, and recording new solo violin works by some of the contemporary music scene's most active composers, including Juri Seo, Notre Dame Professor John Liberatore, Takuma Itoh, Ilari Kaila, Páll Ragnar Pálsson, and Matthew Schreibeis.
New Focus Recordings founder Dan Lippel writes “Patrick Yim’s One adds six beautifully crafted new works to the rich repertoire of music for unaccompanied violin. Standing on the shoulders of the iconic works by Bach, Ysaÿe, Bartok, and Paganini, the six composers represented here explore new approaches to the instrument while integrating time tested techniques in works that would fit naturally within both contemporary music and more general programming. Yim plays with virtuosity and powerful expression throughout, convincingly framing these new pieces within the strong lineage of the music that has come before them.”
Composer Juri Seo, Associate Professor of Composition at Princeton and Guggenheim Fellow, writes on Instagram: “Patrick is such an excellent and sensitive musician, and this record is the fruit of many years of collaboration. I hope you all will give it a listen.”
Composer Takuma Itoh, Professor of Composition at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, writes: “Patrick has been on a roll, with multiple album releases recently and countless commissions from composers worldwide in recent years. I can't think of anyone who has commissioned more music than him recently, and he interprets each work with such integrity and care. I'm just extremely honored to be included, especially as he represents Honolulu on the global stage. Be sure to check out this album with a wonderful collection of new violin works and hear Patrick’s beautiful playing!”
Icelandic composer Páll Ragnar Pálsson writes: “Hermitage for solo violin is out! Patrick Yim commissioned the piece and has since then perfomed it frequently. Patrick and I first met at the New Music for Strings festival in Iceland few years ago and since then this and more collaborations have followed. Patrick has performed the work in various places around the world, for which I am endlessly grateful.”
The album can be purchased here. More information here.
Praised for his “deeply expressive, finely nuanced playing” (The Strad Magazine), “dazzling technique and passionate interpretations” (The Whole Note), and “vivid imagination” (Fanfare), Honolulu-born violinist Patrick Yim made his solo debut with the Honolulu Symphony, and has performed chamber music with Juilliard, Emerson, St. Lawrence, Pacifica, and Ying Quartet members, and musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Cleveland Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. He performed with the Cleveland Orchestra on tour in the USA and Europe, and at Carnegie Hall with the Emerson Quartet violinists. His recordings, including numerous world premieres, have been published by Albany, Naxos, Navona, Ravello, and Acis. A strong advocate of contemporary compositions, Yim has commissioned more than 50 works to date, including a substantial body of work for violin with non-Western instruments. In 2024, Yim performed the world premiere of Bamboo Grove, a new unaccompanied violin work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zhou Long commissioned for him by the University of Notre Dame, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. One: New Music for Unaccompanied Violin will be released by New Focus Recordings on October 25, 2024. New Waves, which includes premiere recordings of works by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and Qu Xiao-song, was published by Albany Records on December 23, 2023. He earned his BM and MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music and his DMA from Stony Brook University. His principal teachers were Philip Setzer, William Preucil, David Updegraff, Jennifer Frautschi, and Hagai Shaham. He previously taught at CIM, Hong Kong Baptist University, Interlochen, and Stony Brook. Yim is Assistant Professor of Violin in the Department of Music, Faculty Fellow at the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, and Faculty Fellow at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame.