Korean percussionist Ji Hye Jung knows how to play marimba, piano and flute, but there?s no question as to which instrument she prefers.
“When I played the piano and flute, it made me very nervous and it was stressful,” the Peabody alumna said. “But playing the marimba made me happy, so I said, ?This is the one.?”
The marimba is a percussion instrument similar to the xylophone in that wooden keys or bars are struck with mallets to produce music tones.
A frequent soloist, Jung was the recipient of the Gum Ho Young Artist Award when she was 15, and won the prestigious International Marimba Competition in 2006.
Conducted by Music Director Hajime Teri Murai, Jung performs South African composer Peter Klatzow?s “Concerto for Marimba” with accompaniment from the Peabody Orchestra tonight.
Q: When did you start playing the marimba?
A: I started playing when I was five, but it wasn?t serious. It was really just my mom trying to get me into different things. But I never stopped liking [the marimba], and so I never stopped playing.
Q: What?s your program for tonight?
A: “Concerto for Marimba” has three movements, the first movement is unlike other concerto music ? it?s much like chamber music, between the orchestra and myself. The second movement is beautiful and flowy, and the third is when we?re all just having fun. That?s why I chose it, really. It?s perfect.
Q: Any favorite composers?
A: I enjoy Klatzow, who is not very well known in America; he?s composed many pieces for percussion. I also like Alejandro Vinao, and Aleksander Polinski. They have strong voices that are very different when they compose marimba music. They are not similar, each has a very distinguished voice.
Q: Do you enjoy interpreting music written for other instruments to marimba?
A: I like to play Bach on the marimba, and I try to play some piano music, but I have to be careful about choosing pieces. Once I choose a piece, I try to practice it so that it doesn?t sound like for what it?s written for originally.
IF YOU GO
Peabody Alumna Ji Hye Jung with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra
WHERE: Miriam A. Friedberg Hall, 17 E. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore
WHEN: 8 p.m.
TICKETS: $5 to $15
