 |
| Violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill / Courtesy of Credia |
O'Neill is grateful to Korean fans for their unwavering support
By Park Ji-won
As the adjective, "award-winning," always seems to come before his name when people introduce him, violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill is the winner of numerous international awards. Nonetheless, he says, it always feels too good to be true when he wins one. That euphoric moment hit him again earlier this year when he was named the winner of this year's Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, for his 2020 album, "Theofanidis: Concerto For Viola And Chamber Orchestra," during the awards ceremony.
This time, he says, the joy of winning was something that he revisited several times again and again in the following months to fully digest, mainly because of the format of the event: the Grammys went online this year due to the pandemic.
"They announced my name and I was on the screen. And I had to give a speech (online) and they cut you off … But then, you're back in your room," he told The Korea Times during a Zoom interview last week. "It is really incredibly surreal. I almost was like, 'Did this really happen?'"
He said the reality started to set in after receiving congratulatory messages from friends and the physical trophy itself in July. The Korean-American artist has been self-quarantining in Korea for his winter concert, "The Gift," to be held at Lotte Concert Hall from Friday to Saturday.
"It was very validating especially considering a lot of the other nominees in my category," O'Neill said about his victory.
It seems his efforts were recognized. O'Neill has been one of the most active violists, working as a soloist, lecturer and chamber musician around the world.
As the first violist to receive an Artist Diploma from Juilliard, he has continued to win awards, including the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006. In terms of recordings, as a Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, he is a rare musician, having made more than 10 solo albums and participating in many other chamber music recordings, as well as film soundtrack recordings.
He founded Ensemble Ditto in 2007 with other artists based in Korea and directed it, contributing to the expansion of chamber music here. He also appeared on many Korean TV shows, including the show, "Hello! Orchestra," where he taught music to children from different cultural backgrounds, which ended up winning the International Emmy Award for Arts Programming in 2013. He has performed with the world's top orchestras, including the London, Los Angeles and Seoul Philharmonics. He also recently joined the Takacs Quartet, one of the most celebrated quartets in the world, in June 2020, and a quartet winning a 2021 Gramophone Classical Music Award, while teaching students at the University of Colorado Boulder.
But, when asked about the Grammy win, he attributed the win to Korea, especially Korean fans' love and support toward him over the last 16 years, since his debut in 2005 here.
"I mean, part of the reason I won the Grammy is because of Korea. I think all my recordings here for Deutsche Grammophon and all my projects here helped me become the person I am today."
"It's great to get a Grammy and get an award that everybody knows. But it's another thing, I might argue, more importantly, to have an audience that supports you and wants to hear your music. All my friends always ask about what it is like to be in Korea. And I always say, 'It's really like a dream.'"
He said that Korean audiences are open to accepting a lot of different music and listening to whatever he brings to them.
"It's like a restaurant where, every day, you come into the restaurant, the people come in to eat and they say, 'You just give me whatever you want to make for me.' I come up with a program of music that I think is meaningful to me, and Korean fans support it."
 |
| Violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill / Courtesy of Sangwook Lee |
Korea, O'Neill's mother's birth country
He was eager to establish his reputation for years, but he has now become one of the most popular classical musicians, who can hold a sold-out recital here and who has a particular fan following. Even though he did not have many chances to listen to Korean songs when he was young, Korean fans seem to find that he represents Korean sentiment, asking him to play Korean children's songs, such as "Island Baby." He was even invited to play viola last year at the government's event to mark Memorial Day, held at the national cemetery, where he played Antonin Dvorak's "Going Home," as a tribute to those who died for the country.
But not every classical artist is so popular. A big turning point actually occurred decades ago when a flagship TV show of Korea made a documentary about him, and he did not miss turning it into a stepping stone for his career. "Yongjae O'Neill's New York Love Song," a KBS documentary in the "Screening Humanity" series, was aired in 2004, focusing on his personal life as a rising Korean-American musician and the son of Lee Bok-soon, a Korean War orphan with developmental disabilities who was adopted into an American family. The documentary focused heavily on his human story, but soon, the series became extremely popular in Korea and shot him to stardom, which in the end, led to his Korean debut in 2005.
So, even now, Korean audiences recognize him as "Yongjae O'Neill," not "Richard O'Neill." His Korean middle name, Yongjae, which means courage and talent, was given to him by the wife of Professor Hyo Kang of Juilliard, as well as Professor Kang himself.
He humbly said that he has been lucky and he still doesn't understand Korean fans' long-lasting, gift-like support of him. However, it seems that Korean audiences are highly inspired by his life, as a Korean American who could have lived without much connection to Korea if he had wanted to, of his creation of a bond with his mother's birth country and of his success as a humble but serious musician despite suffering, with his approach of affirming and being grateful in life, which he did not take for granted either.
"I grew up in the United States and it was a very privileged life. My mom and all the people that were raised around my mom's generation, the parents and grandparents … they sacrificed everything so that Korea could be what it is now. It's clear to me that, in general, you can't take anything for granted, you can't ever."
"My power is knowing that no one is ever alone … We're all here because of other people. And I think a lot of music is about that. I've been given the tools and all that and the dedication. I've been very glad that through this process, I've been able to honor her and keep her legacy as well as the legacy of a lot of Koreans in the world," he said, speaking of his mother.
It is still one of the most difficult times for people due to the pandemic, but O'Neill believes in the power of music ― a powerful art form that has survived many adversaries ― as art is something that can convey the large part of life that is nonverbal and be a powerful way to change people inside.
"Words often don't have a direct means of communication, but with art and music and painting and sculpture, I think they go directly into you. They don't need a translator. And there is no wrong interpretation to me, which you know, means there's no miscommunication."
"But some people might take in the art and it changes them forever; it goes to something deeper within humanity. It's more powerful maybe than words," he said, adding that an artist always has to believe first and foremost in the power of the music that they're dedicated to for the audience they play for.
 |
| The poster for the upcoming concert, "Richard Yongjae O'Neill's The Gift ― The Baroque Night" / Courtesy of Credia |
He has been having his busiest year ever, as many concert halls resumed their planned programs, which had been postponed last year. He will present Baroque music with his award-winning colleagues, cellist Mun Tae-guk and tenor John Noh, in the upcoming Seoul concert which is themed to make the audience feel that they are "present," and that they are "the present," or the gift during the Christmas season.
"The ultimate gift of anyone to anybody else is their presence, being with them … In the pandemic, we realized that live music and concerts are not a given. I'm really grateful for the gift of the audience and that we are going to see each other. Baroque music really goes well with the holidays and is very festive. There's something magical about the harpsichord, and the freshness and vitality of music of that era will be perfect for the holiday."
In the future, he is planning to focus more on the performances of the Takacs Quartet to maintain tradition and the group's prestigious reputation, while he hopes to find a chance to share his abilities to be part of initiatives to bring music back into the public education curriculum.
"I'm in the golden period of my life as far as what I want to do … A lot of my dreams and wishes to play in Europe and to be playing in these beautiful concert halls across the world with great audiences … that's happening now. The teaching is happening where I'm teaching."
"So another dream of mine would be at some point to be part of an initiative to bring music back into public education for more people. In a lot of places in the world, music has been eliminated from public education. The arts aren't just for the few; the arts should be for all. It's just a matter of the people who make the curriculum believing in it."
He will hold concerts in major cities in Korea through Dec. 29.
