YALE School of Music alumnus Changwoo Sohn played the double bass on Saturday at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, hoping to introduce his young audience to the string instrument and classical music.
Sohn, 52, is a Kookmin University double bass professor, and orchestra and choral conductor from South Korea. He is visiting his family on Saipan and volunteering at the library.
“I think I have to do something for the people, so this is the right place [to do that],” said Sohn.
He has performed at the library many times before as his way of giving back to the community after receiving a full scholarship to Yale to study music.
Sohn spends his days teaching music and sharing it with people he crosses paths with, including here in the Commonwealth.
Because the double bass is not usually seen on island, he felt the need to introduce people, especially the younger generation, to the instrument.
Sohn began playing the double bass when he was 15 years old.
He said the music he plays has a way of reaching people’s hearts.
At the library on Saturday, his sister Eunsil Son, who played the piano, accompanied him during the performance.
Eunsil Son helps run their family businesses, Coffee Spot and the adjacent laundromat, in Dandan.
Sohn said his father, a businessman, brought his family to Saipan many years ago. It is also on Saipan where his sister Eunsil Son and her husband have settled down.
Among the pieces that the brother-sister duo performed on Saturday were Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Swan and the Elephant,” Robert Schumann’s “Traumerei,” and Love Affair’s “Sentimental Walk.”
The performance was part of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s “Music @ My Library” program which is free and open to the general public.
For more information about JKPL’s programs, visit https://www.cnmilib.org/.
Accompanied by his sister Eunsil Son on the piano, double bassist Changwoo Sohn performs at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library on Saturday.
