Show Notes

• “Okay, mom. I want to do this for the rest of my life.”
• Instilling importance habits at an early age
• The Colburn School
• Juilliard School
• Choosing the best teacher, rather than the best school
• Talent is not enough
• Success habits of a professional musician
• Playing a violin made when Bach was still living
• “1939”
• Leaving her mark on the music world

Connect With Fabiola Kim

Website – https://www.fabiola.kim/ 
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/fabiola.h.kim

Summary

Hailed by the New York Times as “a brilliant soloist,” who “played with extraordinary precision and luminosity,” violinist Fabiola Kim discusses her amazing career, which began when she made her concerto debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of just seven!

Full Transcript

Brian:

Welcome to another episode of Life Excellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers, and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field so you can learn their tools, techniques, and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success.

[Violin music]

Hello everyone. Thanks for tuning into Life Excellence. You’re going to love today’s guest. At the end of the show, we’re going to be treated to one of her performances. It’s something you’ll definitely want to hear, or see if you’re watching this on YouTube. So stay tuned through the end of the show. Violinist Fabiola Kim is hailed by the New York Times as a brilliant soloist who played with extraordinary precision and luminosity. By the way, this is Fabiola in the background playing an Ysaye violin Sonata. Fabiola enjoys a dynamic and versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and pedagogue. Her recent album, 1939 with the Munich Symphony and Kevin John Edusei has received international acclaim from BBC Music Magazine, The Strad Gramophone and many others. Fabiola made her concerto debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of just seven, three years after beginning to play the violin. She is the winner of various awards and competitions, including being the youngest person in history to win the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s Concerto Competition.

She was recently appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Michigan school of Music, Theater and Dance. Fabiola continues to serve on the faculty of the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, she is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Sounding Point Academy. Fabiola received her artist’s diploma at the Colburn School under the guidance of Robert Lipsett and she received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music at the Julliard School under the tutelage of Sylvia Rosenberg and Ronald Copes. Welcome Fabiola. And thank you so much for joining me today from halfway around the world, in Seoul, Korea.

Fabiola:

Thank you, Brian, for having me.

Brian:

So you began playing violin at the age of three and at the age of just seven performed your concerto debut. What was it like performing with a major orchestra at such an early age? I’m just trying visualize this—a seven year old walking on stage and probably the next youngest person is about 25 or 30, or maybe older.

Fabiola:

Yes, I remember it actually very clearly. And I, if I see the video, I think I’m slightly shorter standing up than the concert master sitting down. So I was very tiny, and I think I was fortunate enough to be able to do that at a young age because I think back then, I didn’t really know what it was like to be on a big stage or to feel nervous or worried about things. I remember just having a great time out there. I think my parents were way more nervous than I was. I remember my mom stayed backstage because she couldn’t bear to watch it—she was too nervous. And I remember coming back off stage and telling her, okay, mom, I want to do this for the rest of my life. So I just remember having a great time and probably one of my favorite concerts, to this date, to play.

Brian:

What caused you to start playing the violin at such an early age, at the age of three? And who was it that identified your extraordinary talent at such an early age?

Fabiola:

My both my parents are professional musicians, and that’s actually not to say that they wanted me to play. In fact that they didn’t want me to play music because they knew it was a really hard field to go into, to make a living. But when I was young, my mom used to teach a lot at home and she’s a violinist. Because me and my sister, who is younger than me, and I were so young she taught a lot at home. So I got to see the violin a lot. And I always said, the violin only has four strings and it produces so many different sounds and notes, I really want to play. And I think at one point my mom said, okay, you can have a toy violin. So she bought me a little toy violin, so then I could just try to play on it. And she decided that I looked very natural. So then she said, okay, you can try the real violin. So that’s how I got started.

Brian:

So given your early success and you, as you said, coming off the stage at the age of seven, saying that you wanted to do that for the rest of your life, it seems like the direction of your life was determined pretty early on. What was it like for you growing up then? And was that literally the start of your career—that concerto debut at the age of 7?

Fabiola:

I did have a pretty straightforward “I want to be a musician” type of childhood. So after that concert, I remember going to study was a really big pedagogue here in Seoul. So I was actually born in New Jersey, but I came to Seoul when I was about five because of my parents. My dad got a job here, so we relocated to Seoul. So I went to Korea National University of Arts pre-college program when I was seven. And I got to hear so many really great young musicians my age and slightly older. So I had a path that was somewhat straightforward in music. I practiced five hours every day since I was probably about that age, seven, eight—maybe four hours—but no breaks—bringing the violin on vacation. I remember when I was about nine or ten, I had a big recital coming up and I didn’t want to miss the family vacation. And we—with cousins, grandparents, everyone—we had a big condo. And I remember getting up at four o’clock and started blasting music because I wanted to get my four hours done before the fun began. So it was a lot of commitment, dedication for sure, every day.

Brian:

Would you say that your path to success is typical? You’ve obviously been around a lot of professional musicians at this stage in your career, and you’ve had the opportunity to learn about other people and the paths that they have taken. Is that typical, that musicians would be identified as being extraordinary at a very early age, and that sort of determines their career?

Fabiola:

Yes and no. Not always. But like sports, it is good to start early and we often see more players who are professional, who started really young. All of my colleagues, people I work with, and a lot of my students, they started very early on, but it’s not always that you have to start early to become a professional musician. For example, my own mother, she started when she was about ten. So that was actually quite late. And it depends on which instrument you play too. If you play a wind instrument, they tend to start much later. Same thing with voice. String instruments and piano, I think we tend to start early and they’re getting earlier and earlier. I see some of my students who say, oh, yeah, I started when I was two. I say, how could you hold the violin? But, so we tend to start early, but it’s not actually often that I see people who knew they wanted to be a professional violinist or concert artist from a really young age. A lot of people start, but they don’t really know how seriously they are going to do music until middle school, high school. So I think that’s more common.

Brian:

You attended the Colburn School and then Julliard. I think most people are familiar with Julliard. Non-musicians are probably less familiar with The Colburn School, but tell us about your educational background and the role both schools played in your success. So you said you were born in New Jersey, then you moved to South Korea. And then at some point, obviously, you moved back to the United States. When did you start over in school?

Fabiola:

I actually started at Julliard at first. I was back in New York by the time I was 13. Then I did two years of Julliard pre-college, which was a Saturday program. It’s an all day program and a lot of schools have this prep program where you go and do lessons, chamber, music, orchestra, music theory, music history, ear training, you name it. So it’s a full day program. I did two years of that and then went to college Julliard. I didn’t go to Julliard for the school name, and a lot of people will think, oh, you wanted to go to Julliard because it’s the best school. But for me, it was the teacher. And I say this to all of my students and people looking for advice that for us, at least this field, you really want to go to school for the teacher because we have one, sometimes more than one, but one private teacher that we directly work with because our work is so by ourselves. We practice by ourselves and once a week, or sometimes more than once a week, we go and play for a private teacher. That’s going to be the most important aspect of your school. I loved my teacher at Julliard and I knew that I wanted to continue. Actually, that was the only school I ever applied to for undergraduate, for college. So then I stayed at Julliard through my undergraduate and my master’s. And then I went to Colburn for a postgraduate degree. And at that time I wasn’t thinking of going back to school. I thought, I’ve got my master’s, I don’t need to go back to school. But I met my mentor, Mr. Lipsett, the summer prior, and we worked really well together. And he was just the perfect person at the time to really bring my level of playing even more. So I said, why not try out for the Colburn School. And Colburn School is not…it’s on the west coast and it’s very, very small. It’s an interesting school. Mr. Colburn was a big music lover and amateur violist, actually. He had such love for the music and he’s given a lot to the music community. So he had built a school and it was a community school at first. And it still exists. It’s the largest part of the school, which is pre-college level, all the way from early childhood classes and to adult students. So it’s really a part of the community where people come and take music lessons. And the college program only started probably about 15 years ago and they keep it very, very small. It’s an all paid tuition plus room and board program. They keep it very, very small so it feels like family. It’s located in downtown LA right across from the Disney Hall and really great facility, resources, faculty. So I really enjoyed my time.

Brian:

You mentioned, Fabiola, the role of your teacher and you mentioned Robert Lipsett by name. I’m a huge advocate of coaching, obviously, in small business and life. And certainly we know that the professional golfers on the PGA tour all have coaches, professional athletes all have coaches, professional musicians have teachers and instructors and mentors. Share the role that teachers have played for you and why that’s so vitally important in the arts, maybe even specifically in music or with violin.

Fabiola:

All of my teachers played slightly different roles, and they’ve all really added to me being the person that I am. And some were great musical inspirations, which is always important. And there have been teachers that I still think of when I’m playing chamber music or learning a piece for the first time. Someone really taught me how to really analyze music correctly. One other teacher really set me up correctly, from basics—because technique is just so important—without the technique we can’t really express what we want to say.

And then by the time I went to study with Mr. Lipsett I realized…I learned a lot about how I teach from him, that music is not just playing the violin, playing your instrument. It’s so much more than that. And if you look at athletes, they have coaches, they have physical therapists, all different aspects. And Mr. Lipsett sees violin, sees music the same way. You can play your violin well, but you need to be in great shape. You need to be also mentally strong. You need to have all these other aspects that are straightened out. So he was the person who actually…before a big concert, he had me go into the big hall and play it over and over, day after day. He wouldn’t say much. He said, okay, we’re going to go into the hall, you’re going to play it. We’re going to go into the hall at a different time and you are going to play. And then we would do trial performances where he would have me warm up backstage differently. We have something called studio classes, which are performances that you can do before your big concerts in front of your colleagues or classmates. And one day he would say, okay, you’re just going to do a very slow work before you go on stage. And then the next time he said, you’re not going to worry about any of the slower. You’re just going to play like you’re performing for ten minutes before you go on stage. And then he would see which one worked better for me, all of these different aspects. He would teach me how to take care of the violin really well. We even went to change the strings, how tight the bow has to be. And it was actually really mind opening for me to think about all these other aspects, because we’re always [inaudible] our technique, and these are the things…he actually even had me change the part in my hair, because I used to have my part on this side. And when I perform you see this side of my face, and I have very short hair actually, so I could put it up. And he said, we have to see your face. Can you do something about that? I learned so much from him, all these different dimensions that add to becoming an artist.

Brian:

What was the thought process around practicing in the hall where eventually you would perform and also doing that maybe at different times of the day, or I don’t remember what you said the different variations were, but what was the reason for that?

Fabiola:

The idea is that you are very comfortable when it’s actually time for you to perform. There are so many different variables. It could be the number of audience members we have, it actually can be difficult to perform when the hall is half empty. I’m sure—actually now with COVID and all—and I’m sure athletes really feel this now playing without fans, but we’re the same way. If the hall is empty, it feels very different to play. And sometimes it’s really full. And then you see someone important there, and you might get a little freaked out. So I think the idea is that you are able to play your best at any given time, under any given circumstances. So that’s why playing in the hall, playing in that same room a lot, is tremendously helpful and doing it at a different time when you feel slightly different, you always know how to bring it to a certain level after a while. And you do it so much by the time it’s the concert you go out there and then you feel so…I just remember that first big concert that I had with him, I had never felt more comfortable. I was never…I performed a lot growing up so I was never a very nervous performer. Not to say that’s a negative thing, sometimes I wish I was more nervous because sometimes I wouldn’t be as focused. But I just felt very focused, very ready and just very calm and just ready to go. So that’s when I realized, wow, I really do have to think about all of these other things.

Brian:

It’s a little embarrassing to admit this, but I grew up playing musical instruments. And so that’s actually where the similarity between you and me ends. I started playing the French horn and played the saxophone a little bit. And one summer I even took the oboe home. I always loved the sound of the oboe so I taught myself how to play a little bit. But for as long as I played I never thought of playing vocationally. I just wasn’t that good, let alone rising to the level that you have, Fabiola. You have the opportunity to work with students, college students at the University of Michigan, younger students at the Colburn School. What are the qualities, skills, and habits required to evolve from simply playing in the band, like I did, to becoming a world-class musician? Is it talent? Obviously, your parents identified a level of talent at a very early age. So is that the biggest component or is there a work ethic that’s part of it? Tell us more about that.

Fabiola:

I would say talent is definitely important. And some people are…I’ve noticed that, especially with young students, some students have really, really good ears, which I think is very important. Because as long as you can hear really well, you can develop very quickly. So I always try to test out their ears, but I have to say, it’s definitely more than that. And I’m sure listeners here, or whoever hears that all the time, it takes more than just talent. And I can’t express enough how true that is because there is just so much talent everywhere. And I think part of that is because now—and I have a lot of admiration for those teachers who train young, really, really young students who first start out, your Suzuki teachers—I have just such respect for them because they’re the ones—even school teachers—they’re the ones who really start you off. And that takes just a different kind of skill set, I think, altogether. But now there are so many good teachers with great training who are doing that for really, really young kids who are just starting out. So just the general level of playing is going up and up and up all the time.

I would say dedication, focus, work ethic, they are all even more important than your talent because that’s who is going to be successful. And classical music, we have have a very narrow audience, unfortunately, and there are so many great artists who are going above and beyond to try to attract more audience. And I think we are doing actually really well, but it’s really hard to get a job. For example, there’s only so many symphonies, orchestras. And right now, probably if you were to look at a violin opening for a job, there are maybe about seven, eight openings, and that’s a lot. Hundreds of people audition for those spots.

Brian:

In the country or in the world?

Fabiola:

In the country, I’d say. Hundreds of violinists apply to get those spots. So, I mean, unless you keep yourself really in shape playing wise and always practicing, doing all of your drills, and putting in the hours, I think that is going to make the difference in the end.

Brian:

You mentioned practice, and you had mentioned that earlier, and I want to talk about that. What does that look like? What format does practice take both say, when you were a student and growing up, and then what does that look like as a professional musician?

Fabiola:

It’s a good question. When I was younger, of course, I had much more time to practice. So I really took advantage of that. I would practice. And I was also a little bit…I did it a little bit more than I think a lot of people do, but I practiced a lot of my technique and basics. If I practiced, let’s say five hours, I dedicated two hours to practicing all my basics, my etudes, my scales. And I think it was good that I did practice a lot because I got to learn a lot of the repertoire that I still play now. So that was important for me to keep increasing or developing my technique and then learning a lot of the repertoire. Now that I don’t have as much time to practice—I do like a condensed version of it, but I am able to…that’s one thing that I’ve learned over the past years is to practice really, really efficiently.

So I actually tell all of my students to be as lazy as possible, because you want to practice in a manner that you can do the least amount of practicing and still get the most done. I said, no one actually likes to practice, so why don’t we all be really, really lazy and smart so that we do the least, we can to get the result. Because it’s…I don’t play sports. I didn’t have time growing up. I actually recently got into golf and I’m terrible, but I love it. But I talk about it with my students a lot, because I said, let’s say you’re playing basketball and you’re practicing your free throws. And every time you practice it, you’re always aiming way right of the basket. Do you think you’re going to get it in during the game? And they say, no. It’s the same thing—why are you just doing your shifts and it’s out of tune and you just do it over and over kind of mindlessly. It’s the same thing. So efficient practicing is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot, both in my teaching and in my own practice.

Brian:

And so how does that play out for you now, personally? In a typical week, how much do you practice and what does that look like? Does it depend on whether you have performances coming up or how does it vary?

Fabiola:

I think if I have performances coming up I practice more. I try to squeeze in an extra hour or so, but if I don’t, I at least try to do an hour or two a day. Because it’s the same thing, I guess, as sports, if I don’t do it for a day or two, I feel the difference. And it’s almost depressing because I think, I’ve been playing it for 20 some years now, close to 30 years probably. But if I don’t practice for a couple of days, I feel really stiff. I feel like I don’t really know how to hold the bow. I think that’s important for me to always just be in shape. If I’m just in shape, even if I’m not practicing a certain piece or whatnot, I can always bring back pieces very easily. If I’m out of shape, then I feel like I have to start from basics all over again. So that’s something that I try to do. And of course, if I have concerts, then I try to get up an hour earlier or stay up a little bit later and do an extra hour or two.

Brian:

I’m guessing that for you, the pinnacle—and for musicians—a concert or a performance is really the pinnacle. You don’t play, you don’t become a musician so that you can practice, you want to perform. For an athlete it’s the game or a competition, for a musician it’s a concert or a performance. Tell us about your routine leading up to a performance. What is that like? Maybe in the week or a couple of weeks leading up to a performance, and then maybe the day of a concert. What does that look like for you?

Fabiola:

So a couple of weeks leading up to it, like I said before, I try to do a lot of practice performances. That has become something important. And it’s interesting. I remember a couple of months ago I had a concert and it was probably my first concert after or during COVID, so I said, okay, I’ve got to do a practice run. And so that was the first time I had really performed in studio class, in front of my students at U of M. I said, okay, you guys, I’m going to play for you. And that was a really interesting experience. It made me actually a little bit more nervous, to play for my students.

So the day of the concert…I’m a runner—that makes me sound serious, but I do like to run a couple of times a week and I’ve run a couple half marathons—I do like to run the day of the concert. That actually is very important to me, maybe it’s psychological, but I feel like it just helps my blood flow and get in the right mindset. So I like to do that. And some musicians don’t like to eat before the concert, because it helps them focus. If you’re you’re full of food…but I actually have to have a full stomach before. I need sustenance and energy. So if it’s a night concert, I will still have dinner before. Most musicians don’t have dinner so we usually have late dinners after, which isn’t the healthiest thing. But I will eat at least something before. I do eat a banana about half hour before I perform. I know a lot of musicians actually do that and I do that as well. But other than that I try to take a nap. If I have a morning rehearsal with orchestra, then I’ll go to the rehearsal and then I’ll go on a run, take a nap, and then get ready and play just a little bit. I don’t practice too much on the day of because you don’t want to be tired.

Brian:

What do you love about classical music?

Fabiola:

I love the music we play, honestly. I think that’s probably the biggest part of it. And the tradition. I mean, just the fact that these pieces were written hundreds of years ago and we still love them and they’re still so great. And I think that’s very special. So we get to really look back at the history, the tradition, and even my violin that I play on right now was made in 1733. Bach was still living at the time. I find all of that really fascinating and the work ethic, and the community of musicians that I meet, and just the integrity of the field. I love that, but most importantly, I love the music.

Brian:

Do you have a particular piece that you enjoy playing or particular composers you enjoy the most?

Fabiola:

There are a couple of composers that I like to play, of course I love playing Mozart. I know that’s very classical. But I actually have a very wide variety and range of composers that I really appreciate playing. I love performing new music with pieces written by composers who are alive as well, because, we play Beethoven and Mozart, but musicians in Mozart’s lifetime played Mozart. And that’s how they made money—by people commissioning pieces, people playing their pieces and just the back and forth. And you can read about different performers and composers, like Brahms and Joachim—you can read about their exchange, like, come on, Johannes, this is unplayable, you can’t write this, you got to fix this. And most composers will say, okay, fine. It’s really interesting to see the back and forth and their first version to the final published version. I find that process really fascinating. So I try to do that with living composers as well.

Brian:

Are there particular passages or pieces that you really wish the composer were around so that you could talk about why that was written or maybe make suggestions for improvement or something a little bit easier to play perhaps?

Fabiola:

Yes, many. So, as I said, some composers were very easy going—they said, okay, do whatever you want. But someone like Beethoven was very much, I wrote this, you have to do this. I wrote it for a reason, I wrote everything out, you have to do this. And so there are passages where the bowing is just to long or you’re really high up on the g-string, which is just a terrible register for the violin, it’d make much more sense on a different string. So there are things like that. I wish I could ask them.

Brian:

Do you compose music at all, Fabiola?

Fabiola:

I don’t, I wish I did. There are many, many talented players who performed their own music. But I’ll say, I sometimes write my own cadenzas, which are like little bits, usually at the end of a concerto where the orchestra stops and then I play by myself. Some concertos the composers wrote the cadenzas, but some…for something like a Mozart concerto, I will play my own cadenza since it’s just minute and a half of music or so.

Brian:

Sure, so that’s really improvisation, something that in jazz they would call improvisation, where you have to play a little bit.

Fabiola:

Right. And we write most of those out, but that was it, that was the idea of a cadenza, traditionally.

Brian:

Do you enjoy other musical genres? Do you play other music besides classical? What do you enjoy listening to when you’re not playing?

Fabiola:

I have an appreciation for all genres of music. I have to say, though, I don’t listen to a lot of music because not only do I play a lot of music, I have 20 some students, so all day I am listening to music. So actually when I come home, I don’t tend to listen to music. I don’t actively listen to a lot of different music, but that’s not to say that all classical musicians are like that. I have some friends who play bluegrass music, jazz, and they’re just fabulous at them too. So I think everyone’s slightly different. For me, I would happily go to a different concert or a jazz concert where, if someone’s playing some music in the background, or if I go to a wedding and there’s a band playing, I really appreciate it, enjoy it, but I don’t actively listen to a lot of music.

Brian:

Do you play other music besides classical, even for fun?

Fabiola:

No, I wish I did though. That’s actually something…like improvising is a skill set that a lot of classical musicians don’t have because we’re so taught to play exactly what’s written. And I think it’s a skill. Nowadays, some schools would offer courses on that. If I were to go back to school, I would like to…and maybe—I know I still can—explore a little bit more in different directions. It’s not a different genre, but I’ve been playing a little bit of, or trying to learn a little bit of, Baroque violin, which is slightly different, just get into different styles of classical music to start with. And we’ll see.

Brian:

You mentioned your instrument. To me, that’s one of the most interesting facets of classical music is the age of the stringed instruments. And I think you said that your principle instrument was made in 1737, was it?

Fabiola:

‘33.

Brian:

1733, that’s amazing to me. How would you describe your relationship with your instrument? What is it that makes that violin so extraordinary?

Fabiola:

Many things, actually, it’s really interesting. The world has changed so much but the violin hasn’t changed all that much. Of course the setup is slightly different. This violin in 1733 had a slightly different setup, different length of the fingerboard, bridge, whatnot, but it really hasn’t changed a whole lot. So that I find fascinating. The world has gone through so many changes and violin is still there. And it’s still basically the same instrument. I always find it interesting to look at the history of a given instrument, because a lot of instruments you can go back in time to see who played it before. My instrument, for example—and I don’t own it. It’s a loan, generously given by someone. And that’s very typical in the music world. Instruments are very expensive, especially the really nice ones. A very, very prominent violinist named Fritz Kreisler owned this violin in the early 1900’s, which is just fascinating. And he’s written a lot of pieces for the violin that we play. So it’s very cool to see that he…I think you can find recordings of him playing on the violin that I play on right now. So I find that history really, really interesting.

Brian:

It is fascinating. And to be able to have that documented and think about that sometimes when you’re playing, probably, different people who have played. Do you have other instruments as well that you play? When do you play that versus other instruments?

Fabiola:

If I were to play…let’s say it’s the summer season and if I’m playing someplace outdoors, even if it’s covered, I don’t bring this violin. Violins are very sensitive, fragile, and humidity affects it, and if for some reason it started raining or something got on the violin, that would be a disaster. So I don’t play this violin if I have to play outside. I generally, unless it’s covered, don’t ever play outdoors unless I have a really, really inexpensive violin. I have a violin of my own, which is also a really, really nice Italian violin, maybe not of this caliber. If I go to a summer festival where the weather’s predictable, it’s really dry, then I’ll take that. I have a third really modern violin that I play for all kinds of other things.

Brian:

So you don’t have 15 of them laying all over the house like guitar players tend to. Don’t they collect guitars and they have a number of them? You don’t have quite that many.

Fabiola:

Not quite that many, but that would be very cool. One day. But if I become a billionaire, I will do that. [Laughter]

Brian:

Fabiola, a couple of years ago, you recorded the album 1939. And of course we now know that 1939 was the eve of a very dark period and in human history. That year three composers Béla Bartók from Hungry, the Englishman William Walton, and Karl Hartmann from Germany, each produced a violin concerto. What was your inspiration for recording the album 1939?

Fabiola:

It was a joint project between me and the artistic director of this record company. We actually started with a Bartók violin concerto because that’s a piece that I feel very close to and I have a special connection to and I love playing it. And I don’t know that this had anything to do with it, but prenatally I listened to a lot of Bartók because my mother was finishing her doctorate degree and she had to do lecture recitals on all of the Bartók violin sonatas. So then she was very pregnant playing those recitals. We started looking at the Bartók violin concerto, and we thought that the year was really interesting and his stance on all of that. And so we said, I wonder if other people wrote violin concertos. Of course though Walton is a…I think that’s actually my favorite piece on the album. And then Hartmann was also interesting because he is a Munich musician, a composer from Munich, and he’s really well-known in that region. He had a very strong stand against the war, against everything that was going on in Germany. It was interesting to see how these three composers portray that in their music and very differently too. Walton is very romantic, very hopeful and Hartmann is quite dark. So it was really nice to get all of that contrast and how musicians were dealing with the start of the war differently.

Brian:

For Hartmann, was that the dark violin concerto? Was that a reflection of what was happening in Germany at the time? He had an awareness of what was starting to happen, maybe more than most people at that time. 1939 was fairly early.

Fabiola:

And he even quotes, I think a hymn or a song, in the last movement, or he talks about…I forget the exact words now, but it’s about darkness and still having hope in humanity that will recover, or something of that nature. So he was definitely very aware and he wanted to say that in his piece, I think.

Brian:

What did you enjoy most about creating the album?

Fabiola:

My collaboration with the orchestra and Kevin, the conductor, mostly. Every orchestra has a different…you have a different relationship with and connection with each orchestra. And we just happened to get along really well. Everyone, we’re thinking hours of recording, right? And especially if you’re one violinist in a section of ten your concentration may not be the same, but every single person was so attentive from the first minute till the last minute. We became quite friendly. Everyone was always excited to be there. And Kevin and I were real partners in that sense. Sometimes a conductor says, well, I’m the conductor. I want it like this. Or someone might say, well, but this is the violin concerto. I’m the soloist. So I want it like that. But with Kevin, we had a real partnership. So that actual music making was definitely my favorite part.

Brian:

I was going to ask you what that’s like, you fly halfway around the world, you’ve performed with so many different orchestras, many different conductors, you talked about some of the nuances of that, the different personalities of the conductors, probably the different personalities that you’re dealing with, the principal players in the orchestra. What is that like? And what does that look like? So let’s say you fly to Munich and you land at the airport in Munich, and you’re playing in a couple of days with the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Do you just walk on the stage and start playing and everybody’s rehearsed separately? Or what does that look like? How do you prepare for a concert like that?

Fabiola:

Most often you meet with a conductor right before the first rehearsal and you go over some of the tempo markings:  I like to do this a little bit faster than the tempo marking, I like to take this a little bit slow. We talk about a couple things and sometimes a conductor might suggest, the oboes play here and that’s a really, really low register, let’s see if we can keep this moving. Usually with a big professional orchestra you would do one rehearsal the day before the concert. And depending on the piece, if you were playing a piece that’s really unknown, then you may have two where you work on all the details. Then the day of the concert, you would get a dress rehearsal either the morning or the afternoon where it’s mostly a run-through. And if there are spots that you have to fix, then you’d fix. So the process of rehearsing with an orchestra is quite quick, which is why sometimes if you get to play with a youth orchestra or a school orchestra they will give you three, four rehearsals. And those are awesome, especially if it’s a new piece. I cherish those moments as well. And I would like to try out pieces I don’t know as well so that I get that rehearsal time.

Brian:

You mentioned earlier in the show that you don’t typically get nervous for performances. So even in that situation where it’s a new orchestra, a new conductor, you’ve rehearsed one time, and now you step onto the stage before a full house, you don’t have anxiety around that? You feel that much at home in that setting that the spotlight goes on and you just shine?

Fabiola:

I will say now I actually get a little bit more nervous than I used to. And I say this to my students all the time. I think that’s a testament to the whole practice thing, because back in the days I practiced so much there was no reason to be worried. Now, if I only had two days to bring something back, I’ll say, oh, I don’t really need to practice this hard. So there are more chatters than there used to be. But I will say, I have learned to be like that before you go on stage. But once I walk out on stage that’s just my problem. Well, the audience members, they didn’t pay money to see me worry about a shift that they’re not going to care about. So that’s a comforting feeling to just say, you know what, they don’t care whether you make that shift or not, they’re here to enjoy your music. And you’re here to really communicate with them. So even if I’m a little bit anxious or nervous backstage, that usually goes away when I start playing.

Brian:

And that’s probably a testament to your professionalism too, and your experience. Let’s talk about teaching. We’ve talked about the role of teachers in your life and how important they’ve been. And you’ve also had the opportunity to add value to a number of students:  college, age students, younger students, you’re now at the University of Michigan. How did you evolve from a performer into teaching? Share a little bit about what that experience is like for you?

Fabiola:

So back in the day our field was a little bit more divided. You’re either a soloist, or a chamber musician, or an orchestra musician, or a teacher. But nowadays, like all fields, everything is so accessible. A lot of musicians do everything together as well. So I started teaching when I was a student of Mr. Lipsett. He actually had me teach someone in front of him. And he said, you’re really actually good at this. Do you have any interest? I said, my parents are musicians and my dad is definitely a big educator. And I was always interested in teaching and I had a lot of teachers, so I said, I actually really enjoy doing it. I was his teaching assistant for a couple of years, which I mean, those years were so valuable. I actually just sat in lessons with him a lot, a couple hours a week. I just sat in his studio while he was teaching. And those were just so valuable, firsthand experiences. And I would ask him questions. So that’s how I got started. I mean, I had an easy start. His students are so excellent. I started by teaching his students, so I had it very easy. I really developed the love for it and dedication for developing talent, because raw talent is one thing. But with the right guidance, they really can transform into something special. And I really enjoy the process a lot. Now I teach college students too, and I’m still quite young—I’m the youngest faculty at U of M in my department. I am just so fortunate to have had those experiences being Mr. Lipsett’s assistant, and having had such great teachers myself. I enjoy giving back to the future generation and it’s actually been helping my playing a lot too, the teaching, because I get to look at things from a different angle. So it’s been beneficial to my playing as well.

Brian:

Is one more rewarding than the other—playing versus teaching?

Fabiola:

You get more instant gratification from performing. But from a student, developing a relationship with students and seeing where they end up going, that’s a really lasting feeling, reward. So I wouldn’t say one over the other. I think I’m happy to have both.

Brian:

It’s wonderful to be able to have that impact on musicians. Fabiola, the New York times wrote that you are a brilliant soloist and that you play with extraordinary precision and luminosity. What do you love about being a violinist?

Fabiola:

Well, I guess performing is really what I love about being a violinist. And even in my teaching, I’m helping my students perform for the audience. And there’s nothing like…sometimes I’m performing and I actually look at the audience. Of course we’re taught, don’t stare at the audience when you’re performing, but I look at them and how they react. That just gives me such energy and a feeling that I don’t get from anything else that I do. So that’s what I love most about performing, and I just love the instrument the violin. Actually, I wouldn’t say the violin is my favorite instrument ever. I would probably say the cello is my favorite instrument. But I feel that the violin is my instrument, that it’s my voice and that’s how I portray my voice. So violin is my instrument, even though sometimes I enjoy listening to cello more. It just has such different temperament, quality, wide variety of colors and sounds. I don’t know if you recall, that’s why I was initially attracted to the violin as a young person, I said, it just creates so many different sounds. My dad was a pianist and I wasn’t at all interested in playing the piano. So I think I definitely had a special attract attraction to the instrument.

Brian:

Well, I think that you were probably attracted to the violin in your mother’s womb, listening to Bartók. So I really believe there’s probably more to that than the fact that you started playing the violin, rather than that leading you to playing 1939, although maybe there’s a connection to both of them. What do you hope people feel when they hear you play? And what do you hope people say when they leave the performance?

Fabiola:

What I hope that people hear is not my playing. I don’t want them leaving the concert, thinking that I played really well. I want them to leave the concert wanting to hear that music again. We are really the messengers of the composers, I think. And that’s what’s so unique about this, is that all of us have a different take—it’s not about playing perfectly though that’s really important too—because then why not have one recording of Heifetz playing and that’s all you need. But everyone has such a unique take on it. I want people to hear that, I want people to enjoy the music, feel something rather than people to think, wow, she’s playing that really well, look at her thirds there. I don’t want to be the main focus. I want to be the vessel that plays the music. I mean, I get most happy when people say, I really loved that Bartók that you played and especially that slow movement, rather than, I thought you sounded really good. I want to sound good but if people are enjoying your music, that means you’re sounding good.

Brian:

You’re still very young. What are you most proud of having accomplished thus far in your career? And as you look ahead, say five or ten years out, what do you hope to accomplish?

Fabiola:

I’m happy with everything that I have accomplished, but actually I have to say most importantly my teaching studio, my teaching career, to be able to have so many students who are so fantastic and doing really well. Students trust me, even though I’m a very young teacher. I’m very happy about that, proud of that because not only do I get to train them, but I also get to leave my mark on the music world. Every teacher has a different voice, different take, and I’m very excited about that. I had great training and I get to leave my version of that onto the future generation. So I’m very, very proud of that. In my career, in the future, I hope to do what I’m doing now, the good balance of teaching and performing. It’s also nice for my students to see their teacher performing as well. I think it’s a giving relationship. I would hope to keep doing both.

Brian:

And I’m sure you will. Thanks for listening to Life Excellence. Be sure to continue listening or watching as we’re pleased to include Fabiola performing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto, 3rd Movement. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about it on social media, and leaving a rating and review. You can also check out the show notes at BrianBartes.com or on YouTube for more information about Fabiola Kim. Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.

[Violin music]