The first ASO concert returned with a musical masterpiece performed by. Jeewon Lee and Wendy Mazon this Thursday.
After not being able to have many normal in person concerts due to Covid-19, this performance by Jeewon Lee and Wendy Mazon encapsulates the audience, reminding everyone what the power of a live concert brings.
Mazon describes that they are glad to be back and performing in front of students live and free of charge to the student body.
“It’s definitely exciting to be able to come out and play for such a large audience and the fact that ASO supports this kind of programming, with the help of Dr. Gaga who scheduled everything,” Mazon said. “It’s just such a great opportunity and to be free to students. It’s a pleasure to be a part of it.”
The show started with Lee walking out to an applause, but the crowd was not quite prepared for what she was about to play.
As soon as Lee started playing a piece by Chopin, the crowd was immediately entranced within her music, there was so much subtebly, yet so much power.
Lee later states that she wanted this Chopin piece to be more celebratory, not only because this was the first ASO concert, but also because Mazon had just become the new chair in the music department.
“I wanted it to be a little bit more celebratory because it’s the first ASO concert of the semester,” Dr. Lee said. “And also I didn’t say this on stage, but Mazon became the new chair in our department. The nickname for this piece is “The Heroic Polonaise.”’
After that amazing showing, Jeewon walked back off stage, and then returned onto stage with Mazon, where they continued to play a variety of musical pieces.
Mazon expressed all the different emotions and colors that the pieces they chose could bring out, representing the journey that the crowd went through during the performance.
“The different colors and characters that you can bring out in this piece is beautiful,” Mazon said. “It’s everything from the beginning, which is Allegro, a pasionado, very passionate to just very innocent in the second movement and then a lot of fun, light humor in the third movement, and then just realistic cancellation for candidates. So it just really covers a lot.”
The audience was simply blown away by the showing that they had just watched, and gave a very large round of applause expressing so.
Music students Annie Yolo and Garret Sullivan expressed how incredible the performance was and what it was like seeing your teachers perform in front of you.
“It was really amazing, I mean I have seen Lee perform before, but this was a whole new level, and she has such a strong stage presence, it’s really amazing,” Yolo said.
“I was very impressed, it was really cool getting to see the people who teach us how well they do in a performance,” Sullivan said. “ It’s just seeing what we can get to.”
This will not be the last ASO concert as they plan on doing many more, the next show is still TBA but will take place on Oct. 13.
For any further announcements on any upcoming concerts, you can follow them on Instagram/Facebook at lapcmusic.
