Somi Kim had a late start to the piano but she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Now NZTrio’s official pianist, she will be performing Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian” with the CSO on 2 July 2022.

“When I was about five years old, my mum and I attended some fun parent-and-child keyboard classes in South Korea,” says Somi, who was born in Seoul. “I didn’t start formal training until I was about eight, which is kind of late compared to some of my peers.”

“Being a collaborative pianist and soloist is awesome- it goes hand in hand with my love for socialising and interacting with people. I feel like it’s a great career choice for me,” she said. “One of my most memorable performances was at the Concertegebouw in Amsterdam. I had a concert with a violinist I admired playing with. I just remember the Steinway in the hall feeling absolutely luxurious - the keys purred under my fingers. The floors leading to the stage were covered in plush red carpet. After dreaming about performing in Europe, to actually be there was so special.

“I remember walking off-stage feeling so lucky and grateful that I get to call this my job”.

To be a concert pianist, one should be very open-minded, she advised. “You have to immerse yourself in culture. Go to shows, operas, plays, theatre. If you’re preparing a piece by a certain composer, do your research, listen to their other works and get some context.”

The career could be quite an isolating one, given the number of hours that must be spent in practice, but it was worth it for “those special moments on stage where it feels like time stops and nothing else matters, and knowing that you might change someone’s day by sharing your passion with them.”

While there are times when being on stage can make her a little nervous, she just embraces it and tries to enjoy it all. “We live in a world where we strive for perfection that doesn’t really exist. I love the spontaneity of live music - it’s a living and breathing piece of art. You can create experiences that last a lifetime as memories.”

This will be her first time performing with the CSO as Somi moved to London in 2013 and returned to Aotearoa in 2020. The Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5, she said, is “so much fun to play”.

The concerto is well known for its difficulty. However, she doesn’t focus on the technical challenges, but rather on the imagery conjured and the composer’s inspiration. “Saint-Saëns tells us a story about the voyage on the ocean. He started writing the concerto in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor and finished it in Cairo, capturing the crickets and the croaking of the frogs on the Nile. There’s a magical moment in the second movement that you won’t miss - when I first heard it in a recording, I thought it must be a foreign instrument, something out of this world. The concerto is full of exoticism, fireworks and magic - we’re all in for a treat!”

Somi Kim performs Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian” with the CSO in Lam & Hayward Masterworks: Romantic Masters, on Saturday 2 July, 2022, 7.30pm, at the Christchurch Town Hall.

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