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Music by the lake
by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
July 14, 2003

Young-Nam Kim is artistic director of the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute, sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. The first institute was held at the YMCA's Camp du Nord near Ely in 2002.

Duluth, Minn. — It's a family camp. When we presented the first concert (second day of arrival) we had a wonderful full house of campers, families and children who were fantastic audience. People really seemed to enjoy music & nature together.

Q: It must have been hard to put on a concert with such a short time to rehearse together.

Right. We warned the students, we had selected students, we mailed music in advance, we warned them first concert takes place in two days so they came really prepared with their parts, and we're proud they did. One of the unique parts is the faculty plays with students so we're on equal footing so to speak. But also we invite people from the community so whoever is visiting or living in town, and plays a string instrument, and feels able, we send music in advance, and they can participate in concert.

Q:Sounds like a pick-up band.

Yeah, in a sense, but we just want to make sure we become part of the community as well.

Q: I get the impression that for young people who are serious about classical music, there's a lot of competitiveness in their world. Do you see it that way?

I don't know, I think there are some camps I've visited or participated, where they pay more attention to "better players" or in the orchestration they have challenge system where you challenge the person ahead of you, which is a little unhealthy in my view. I try to keep Bartok's motto, competition is for horses not people.

Q: Do students ask you for advice about whether they should go for a career in music?

Yes, sometimes; quite often as a matter of fact. And as far as pursuing a career, as my teachers used to say, if you have any doubts, it's better to stay away from it. But once committed, it's a very rocky road, tough task, almost like being a sportsman but you can't quit when you're 30 or 40, you have to keep going til you're 85, you have to practice til your last day, there's no quitting. And hopefully you get better and wiser musically and otherwise as you get older, so your music-making when you're 85 will certainly be a lot better than when you're 30 or 40.

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