I Got Korean Love

Ditto Members to Give Solo Performances

Johnny Lee, violinist and member of the ensemble Ditto, will give a recital Thursday at Hoam Art Hall near Seoul City Hall in Seoul. / Korea Times Photos by Shim Hyun-chul

This is the 13th in a series of interviews with the next generation of classical musicians ― ED

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

In a concert hall, the mostly young, female crowd is wild and hyped up. No, it’s not a rock concert ― it’s Ditto, a male chamber group made up of some of the most promising young musicians to arise from Korea and the United States in recent years.

The Korea Times sat down with two Korean-American members of the group, violinist Johnny Lee, 29, the only ethnic Korean in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Patrick Jee, a 30-year-old solo cellist who teaches at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Lee and Jee will be giving their first recitals here Thursday and Friday, respectively, before joining other Ditto members for a cross-country tour.

Q: How is it like to be back in Korea?

Jee: I live in Chicago; I don’t see many Koreans. Even in Koreatown it’s not like (Korea). I feel somewhat at home here.

Lee: I work and live in L.A. This is a good chance to come back and play music and you know, explore. I was here last year, and before that it was 15 years ago.

Q: Tell us about your background.

Lee: I started (the violin) when I was five. My older brothers were playing, and I wanted to play… (As an economics major at Harvard University) I was in research labs but it wasn’t my passion. I couldn’t wait to go home and practice (the violin). My mother studied music at Ehwa (Womans University) and knew how hard it was (to pursue a career in music). If I didn’t give it a chance I thought I’d regret it for the rest of my life. I was 19, 20. But you know, better late than never.

Jee: I started playing the piano when I was three and the cello when I was five. I was torn between the piano, cello, baseball, hockey and just being a kid. My mother was a supermom and drove me everywhere, even to Montreal (Canada) for hockey tournaments. But I had to decide because it was too much and I chose the cello.

It was in seventh grade. I had a plan in junior high, to go to school in Miami on a seven-year medical program because at the time my favorite football team was the Miami Hurricanes. But I met a teacher who really changed my life. I locked myself in the basement and played the cello for hours and hours, and I haven’t looked back since then.

(Jee graduated from Yale Universtiy, School of Music and the Juilliard School in New York. Lee attended the Cleveland Institute of Music after Harvard.)

Q: What do you love so much about music?

Jee: Playing music lets you be the person you’re afraid to be in real life. It’s definitely all about characters and exploring different parts of your soul. When I’m onstage, it’s me and the music, and the cello is kind of in the way, and hopefully he agrees with me about what I want to say. It just lets you let loose and be yourself.

Lee: I say ditto (laughs). I just feel like we’re really lucky because it’s not just a job, we’re really doing what we love. I mean it’s pretty physically grueling but it’s such a blessing.

Q: Playing is so physically demanding; it must be difficult.

Jee: I’m a walking hospital. I had some issues with my back for a very long time.

Lee: When you work out it’s important to warm up, it’s the same with music.

Jee: If you think about it, music is the only thing that combines the physical, the mental and the spiritual. I don’t know of any profession that’s quite like that.

Patrick Jee , cellist and member of the ensemble Ditto, will be performing Friday at Hoam Art Hall near Seoul City Hall in Seoul. / Korea Times Photos by Shim Hyun-chul

Q: Tell us about your recitals.

Lee: Normally we’re playing in an orchestra and there are other players to back you up but in a recital it’s just you. It’s a different type of activity that you have to prepare for but it’s. It’s a violinistic program that’s very melodic with accessible, singable melodies. I tried to incorporate familiar stuff like the Beethoven Sonata and other stuff people might not know… It’s a tasting menu, like a buffet.

Jee: Without coming across as being too cheesy, the general theme of my recital is love. In this age of violence and mass protesting over beef, and political chaos, I think the constant messages that translate to any culture are music and love. The Rachmaninov Sonata is sort of like a dark kind of love. There’s also tango music, which is very sensual. I want this to be fun and I want to share with listeners my love of music.

Q: It seems Ditto members are all good friends.

Jee: Johnny and I have mutual friends, but we only met last year. Now we’re best friends. I’m really ecstatic about coming here. Although we only see each other once a year, it’s about communicating with your friends. We’re friends but we don’t get to talk often and in a way we are talking on the stage through the music.

Lee: We (the classical music community is) are small but spread out. There’s great chemistry in the group.

Q: What is the driving force behind your musical career?

Jee: It’s pretty simple. My parents were very supportive. Because I’m the maknae (youngest in the family) I got to do whatever I wanted, and their support was really important.

Lee: Because the nature of the industry is tough and it’s hard to survive, you really have to have a love for it. That will help you keep pushing and trying hard. When I was in (Cleveland Institute) there were a lot of students who weren’t really passionate about it, and they are no longer musicians.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

Jee: …relaxing from the sometimes physical torture of playing.

Lee: Even when you’re off you’re not really off. I just go to the beach and do normal stuff

Jee: I don’t get sunshine in Chicago. I like to cook, chop things French style. It’s very meditative.

Lee: I’m not as good as him. If we had an `Iron Chef’ (compeitiont) he’d win.

Jee: Richard’s (Yongjae O’Neill, Ditto’s violist) good, he makes a mean Bolonaise (spaghetti).

Lee: I like to cook, too, like he said, it’s meditative. Yes, I hang out with (Richard) when he’s in town

Q: Do you have any plans while you’re in Korea?

Jee: I plan on going to Red Mango (frozen yogurt chain) and Itaewon.

Lee: Patrick knows Korea better, so he’ll be my tour guide.

Q: Future plans and dreams?

Jee: I started teaching at Roosevelt University in Chicago and it’s pretty cool to give back. It’s very rewarding. I have some CD recording projects. My dream, which I hope will come true in the next couple of years, is to start a chamber music series in Chicago. I feel like that’s what I have to do or at least try.

Lee: I’ll be coming back for the L.A. Philharmonic’s Asia tour in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong in the fall. I don’t want to come across like I’ve lost my ambition because I’m your classic overachiever, but I’m finally starting to realize that it’s good to sometimes just live in the present. I’m turning 30 next year, and it’s like, I’m kind of living my dream. I’m really living it and really enjoying it. I just bought a home and I want to enjoy life.

Lee’s violin recital will be held Thursday and Jee’s cello recital, Friday. Both will be held at Hoam Art Hall, near City Hall in northern Seoul. All tickets for each recital cost 30,000 won. Ditto will give a concert June 28 at the Seoul Arts Center and will tour other cities including Daegu and Busan. Call 1577-5266.