Karen Gomyo: Artist Diploma Student with Thriving Career
Japanese/Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo stepped into the compact performing space facing the box pews at Old South Meeting House –a contemporary musical presence in an historic Puritan church. Glamorous in a white diaphanous halter top—she bears a slight resemblance to Catherine Zeta-Jones--Gomyo played a glamorous program for the noontime audience that had gathered for the second concert in Old South’s March showcase of NEC Artist Diploma students. She supplied a colorful anecdote about the Franck Sonata (a portrait of a marriage) and then, along with pianist Dina Vainshtein ’04 G.D., ignited an incandescent performance of it. This she followed with a Mozart Rondo and two dazzling Astor Piazzolla Tangos.
Earlier the same week, Gomyo had played her program on WGBH-FM’s “Classical Performances� show. (WGBH, Old South, and NEC’s Performance Outreach department are co-sponsors of the Old South series.). During the tempestuous second movement of the Franck, she experienced one of those minor catastrophes dreaded by string players when her e-string snapped in the final measures. She gamely finished the movement and then quickly wound a new string into place while host Richard Knisely chatted through the pause.
Gomyo’s cheerful composure under trying circumstances is the product of many years’ experience. Although only 24 and a first-year Artist Diploma student (she has been at NEC for four years since transferring as an undergraduate), she has been concertizing since she was a child. She’s been professionally managed since she won the Young Concert Artists Auditions when she was 15 (at the time, the youngest winner ever in that competition’s history).
“I was managed by YCA for four years,� Gomyo says. “They taught me how to perform. It was a wonderful program and among other things I went into schools and learned to interact with audiences.� After YCA, she was “one of the lucky ones to be picked up by a major concert manager�—in this case, Columbia Artists Management.
CAMI keeps her busy. In the two weeks before her appearances on WGBH and at Old South, she was playing the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in Florida--two performances with the Florida Symphony and four with the Florida West Coast Symphony. In April, she will perform the Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn Concertos with several different orchestras.
Born in Tokyo, Gomyo and her family moved to Montreal, Canada when she was two. She began studying the violin at the age of five and after playing for the well-known teacher Dorothy Delay in a masterclass at age 10, she was invited by Delay to study at Juilliard on full scholarship. It was while she was at Juilliard Pre-College that she met another blossoming talent, cellist Alisa Weilerstein.
“Alisa was always telling me, ‘You have to study with my dad,’� Gomyo said. Which is exactly what she did, after spending a year at Indiana University with Mauricio Fuks. Now, when she isn’t on the road playing with the likes of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas, Utah, and Vancouver Symphonies, she is back at NEC working with Donald Weilerstein, the Dorothy Richard Starling Violin Chair.
“NEC gives me balance,� Gomyo said. “I go to class, interact with kids my own age, and work with my teacher, who helps me prepare my programs.�
Gomyo performs on a 1703 Stradivarius on permanent loan to her from a private sponsor.
“The owner has been following my career since the YCA competition,� she said. “As I have been getting busier and busier, he wanted me to play on it. What’s unusual about this instrument is that because it’s a Strad it would ordinarily be passed around [from investor/collector to investor/collector]. But this one has only had two owners in the last century—both amateur violinists. So it’s gotten very good care. It was purchased because the owners really loved it. It’s like a healthy child who’s been brought up in a loving family. It’s unpretentious but it also has a lot of depth to it.�