The Schubert Club’s Shin Kim Trio Rehearsing as a Family

The Shin Kim Piano Trio talks about what it’s like behind the scenes to perform music as a family.

Most chamber ensembles don’t admit to rehearsing in their pajamas. The Shin Kim Piano Trio does, and they do so a lot. The trio is a family. Violinist Kyu-Young Kim is artistic and executive director of Schubert Club. His wife, cellist Pitnarry Shin, plays with the Minnesota Orchestra. Their son, pianist Orion Kim, 20, is a student at Yale University.

Producer John Kuntz sat in on the family’s rehearsal of Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 1, then spoke with all three afterward. The result is a rare look at the intricate process of preparing chamber music before a performance. The family conducts with one another to lock in a shared pulse, works through tension and release, and leans on Pitnarry to hold back what her son calls his and his father’s “incredibly bad rushing tendencies.”

In the interview, they talk about the shared language, and the missing filter, that come with making music at home. They explain why Beethoven’s first published work fits Orion’s professional debut, and they remember the day he sat his parents down on the couch to say he wanted to pursue music.

The trio performs on Schubert Club’s Oct. 11 Music in the Park Series in a program that includes the world premiere of Bab Meogeossoh, a new work by Texu Kim, with violist Misha Amory of the Brentano String Quartet.

Thank you to Schubert Club for making this conversation possible.

Musicians
Kyu-Young Kim: violin
Pitnarry Shin: cello
Orion Kim: piano

Credits
Guests: Kyu-Young Kim, Pitnarry Shin, Orion Kim
Host: John Kuntz
Video Producer: John Kuntz
Videographer: Eric Romani
Audio Engineer: Michael Osborne