"Tomoki Park is a brilliant mind, intellectual in the best sense but full of emotions. He is very interested in new music and plays it with understanding and enthusiasm."

Korean pianist Tomoki Park was born in Yokohama, Japan and moved to England at age 11. He has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician in venues including Philharmonie Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall and Opera City in Tokyo. A graduate of the Bard Conservatory, where he studied with Peter Serkin, Tomoki is currently receiving further instruction from Sir András Schiff, and is a student at the International Piano Academy Lake Como. 

He has appeared in festivals such as Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Kronberg, and has given performances in Geneva at Portrait Pierre Boulez, Salzburg Mozarteum, Bonn Beethoven-Haus, and Tongyeoung Concert Hall in Korea. With Peter Serkin and the Sacramento Philharmonic, he has performed J.S. Bach and Takemitsu Double Piano Concertos. In the upcoming season, he will be performing solo recitals across Europe as part of “Building Bridges”, a series curated by András Schiff, where he will be premiering a new work by Katherine Balch. 

Tomoki was a member of the Ensemble Modern Academy, Frankfurt (‘19-‘20). His rendition of Oliver Knussen's piano music was noted as “performed sensitively…and among the highlights” by the New York Times. Tomoki's musical education began at the Purcell School, where he studied piano with Tessa Nicholson and composition with Dai Fujikura, Haris Kittos, and Jonathan Cole. He continued his studies with Pascal Devoyon at the University of the Arts, in Berlin, where he is currently residing. 

Piano

Tomoki Park

Nominated for the Ambassador Programme by Sir András Schiff, pianist Tomoki Park joined us in Aubonne in September 2023 where he made a special recording of Heinz Holiger's Lebenslinien, originally premiered in the same region of Switzerland and dedicated to György Kurtag on his 95th birthday. This piece holds a significant place in Swiss musical heritage. Among Holliger's notable piano works is his magnum opus 'Partita', a poignant tribute to Sir Schiff. Through this connection, Tomoki had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Holliger on his 2020 work, Lebenslinien,  in Basel  just days before the memorable recording in Aubonne. The work takes listeners on a journey, mirroring the turbulent life of the renowned pianist Clara Haskil. The music intertwines with her geographical and emotional travels from Romania to Switzerland, creating a musical narrative that is both powerful and moving.

Tomoki Park | Heinz Holliger - Lebenslinien

Lebenslinien

Classeek Showroom performance, 14 September 2023

Nominated by Sir András Schiff, pianist Tomoki Park joined us in concert in September 2023 as part of the Ambassador Programme. 

Tomoki Park | Schubert - Piano Sonata in C major, D  840 “Reliquie” I Moderato, II Andante

Piano Sonata in C major, D  840 “Reliquie” I Moderato, II Andante

Tomoki Park talks about how he met Sir András Schiff, the way that he approaches new music and commissions, the Classeek Ambassador Programme, and more in this interview with Benjamin Woodroffe.

Tomoki Park Interview

with Benjamin Woodroffe

Tomoki Park | J.S. Bach - Musical Offering: Canon per Tonos and Ricercar a 6 

Musical Offering: Canon per Tonos and Ricercar a 6 

Martina Consonni

"It is with great pleasure that I can introduce two excellent pianists to you: Martina Consonni and Tomoki Park. Martina Consonni is full of life and “Italianita,” her musicality is most engaging. Tomoki Park is a brilliant mind, intellectual in the best sense but full of emotions. He is very interested in new music and plays it with understanding and enthusiasm. Please receive them with open hearts."

Martina Consonni is a ‘rare talent,’ renowned classical pianist and conductor, Sir Andràs Schiff enthuses. Cellist Gautier Capuçon also testifies to her sensitivity and creativity – her exceptional skill echoing Therese Bartolozzi, a brilliant pianist of the 18th century to whom Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C major, Hob:XVI:50, is dedicated.

Written around 1794, Haydn was concluding his second (and last) visit to London. His trips to the vibrant city famously inspired him to write several symphonies, yet he also reveled in the large English pianos of the day. With an extended keyboard that gave the instrument ‘extra’ notes, Haydn wrote his Sonata in C major with this luxury in mind. A witty flair that has come to be synonymous with Haydn accompanies this sophisticated keyboard writing.

Not many of us are blessed with witty flair in adolescence, remarks Romantic writer Jean Paul in his novel Flegeljahre (The Awkward Age). The last scene of the book, a masked ball, was the inspiration for Schumann’s piano suite Papillons, and was subject to many annotations by the composer as he devoured the pages. 

Meaning “butterflies”, Papillons refers to the many slips of paper on which Schumann wrote his notes whilst reading Flegeljahre. As in Jean Paul’s novel, Papillons spins us through several dance-like movements with rapid mood changes and intense encounters.

A similar intensity is captured in Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso in E minor, albeit not immediately: first, we are lulled by a lyrical adagio reminiscent of his Lieder ohne Worte. This then gives way to a sparkling scherzo as the tension continues to mount. A virtuosic race begins and we are compelled to hang onto every note until the finish line. 

Reworked in 1830 for piano virtuoso Delphine von Schauroth, Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso in E minor is a brilliant demonstration of his lyrical tenderness, coupled with his powerful exigence.

J.S. Bach’s collection of four duets, published in 1739, contains his usual dedication “[to] music lovers to refresh their spirits”. This time, however, he saw fit to add an additional phrase: “and especially for connoisseurs of such work”. An intellectual and technical feat, these duets are not written for two instruments but rather two voices – not unlike his two-part inventions. Stretching the limits of contrapuntal art, it is especially a connoisseur, as Bach rightly concedes, that can appreciate the purity of this two-voice counterpoint. Having performed at celebrated venues such as Berliner Philharmonie and Wigmore Hall, Tomoki Park is both a connoisseur and master of such complexity.

Park is not the only one to share a sensitivity to detail and structure. American composer Katherine Balch draws parallels between her music and botany, citing, “The veins in a leaf form patterns that are self-similar but not quite symmetrical, which is what I try to do in my music…”. This is what we can anticipate in her new work Obstenmelodie, along with incredible layers of texture that have come to characterise her music.

Just as texture marks Balch’s compositions, Schubert’s are often characterized by their unfinished nature. Like his eighth symphony – the Piano Sonata in C major, D. 840 “Reliquie” – contains only two fully completed movements. With vivid harmonic language, Beethovenian grandeur, and perceptive, intimate writing, this sonata is one of the most significant of Schubert’s unfinished works. 

Among Bach’s most significant finished works are the Canon Per Tonos and Musical Offering Ricercare 6, which conclude this recital. Canons can take all shapes and sizes, a feature that Bach exploited. With the theme given by Frederick the Great, Bach manipulated the music so that it goes up a step (tone) with each repetition. He explained in the inscription to this piece, that “as the modulation rises, so may the King’s glory”.

However, this was not the end of Bach’s – dare we say it – invention. Taking counterpoint several levels higher, his Ricercar 6 is a six-voice fugue that presents a lengthy theme dedicated to Frederick the Great.

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