GFA winner Bokyung Byun in concert May 19th
Bokyung Byun is only 24 but already hailed as one of the great guitarists of our time
It’s been a fast ride for Bokyung Byun. Born in Seoul, Korea, Bo Byun (her family and friends call her Bo) began playing guitar at the age of six. At eleven, she played her first solo recital. Barely in her teens, she performed concert tours around Korea, earning millions of views on YouTube, and won first-prize finishes in three renowned competitions in Korea and the USA. In 2021, she triumphed at the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, winning the most prestigious guitar competition in the world. The Vancouver Classic Guitar Society is delighted to present the remarkable Bo Byun on May 19th at Pyatt Hall at 7 pm, with a pre-concert performance at 6:15 pm by UBC School of Music guitarists. Guitar students can take a masterclass with Bo on Saturday, May 20th. Concert tickets and masterclass registration at www.vancouverguitar.org
At 16, Bo entered The Juilliard School on New York City where she earned a Bachelor and Master of Music then went on to get her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California. “My dad reached out to people everywhere to figure out the right path for me,” she says, adding she is grateful to count Scott Tennant, William Kanengiser, Chen Zhi, Tae-soo Kim, and Sharon Isbin among her teachers. Today, she teaches at California State University, Fullerton and performs worldwide as a soloist and with orchestras.
She has a fondness for the music English guitar legend Julian Bream introduced to the world and s has played Benjamin Britten’s challenging Nocturnal and William Walton’s Five Bagatelles. She also enjoys the Segovia repertoire. Bo’s concert program often features contemporary music alongside traditional repertoire. She says, “It’s vital and exciting to audiences for concerts to join the new with the old.” In 2020, Byun co-founded Guitarlab which has provided an innovative online learning platform offering innovative classes designed for young professionals around the world.
Reviewers describe her as "Extraordinary," La Presse de Gray, “Bokyung’s artistry and technique break the limits of conventional classical guitar” San Diego Guitar Festival and "Bokyung Byun is one of the great guitarists of our time, whose musical, technical and creative brilliance is at once masterful, virtuosic, powerful, elegant, genuine and deeply compelling” Sharon Isbin.
With her formal education and competition days behind her, Byun is charting a course toward a musical career encompassing performing, teaching, and more. “I am trying to think more broadly now,” she says. “During the pandemic I felt a little useless as a guitarist. I feel now that I want to give back to society in some way. I’m not sure how I will achieve that with the guitar, but we’ll see.”