On February 18, 2025, Yoonsa Lee ’25 (who is also a Managing Editor for the Deerfield Scroll), Principal Violist, performed her senior recital at the Elizabeth Wachsman Concert Hall in the Hess Center for the Arts. Her repertoire for the concert spanned over two centuries of classical music, performing music written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Max Bruch, and Rebecca Clarke. Her encore piece, which was not included in the original program, was also written by Clarke, a violist.
Lee began her musical studies at the age of three after picking up the violin for the first time under the tutelage of Heidi Kenney at the Suzuki Strings Studio of Madison, Wisconsin. After moving to Amherst, Massachusetts, she continued to study music and perform in chamber music ensembles. Lee was first introduced to the viola her freshman year at Deerfield during her audition for the Chamber Music class. Although Lee originally auditioned playing the violin, Music Teacher Anthony Berner pushed her to begin playing viola in the Deerfield Music Program, believing her sound would be a better fit for the lower-voiced instrument. Ever since Mr. Berner’s suggestion her freshman year, Lee has embraced the viola. Participating in the Advanced Chamber Music class for all four years of her Deerfield music career, Lee has led the orchestra as the principal violist since sophomore year. Lee cites Mr. Berner as the person who has had the most significant impact on her approach to music. She has internalized Mr. Berner’s advice to “play Bach with your head, not your hands,” which has helped her develop a more intentional and focused musicality and phrasing.
One of Lee’s favorite pieces in the program was the *Sonata for Viola and Piano Impetuoso* written by Rebecca Clarke in 1919. She has been playing that particular piece on and off for two years now, but every time she returns to practicing or performing it, she can see the progress that she’s made over the years and she discovers something new every time. The piece itself is very delicate, and there is a lot to explore both musically with the piano and the intricate notes on the viola. Lee said, “This piece really takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.” Fellow member of the Deerfield Chamber Music Program, Andy Chen ’25, described the song as meaning to “celebrate the spirit of the youth fermenting tonight.” He is grateful that Lee performed that piece during the night because it made him feel “really free” just by listening to the music.
Lee also performed *Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat major, Op. 67* along with her peers in the chamber class: Torge Blunck ’27, Julie Yan ’26, and Heidi Liang ’28. Chen has heard her group perform multiple times prior to the performance, but despite that, he believes that the performance never felt repetitive. He added, “Yoonsa is always trying her hardest to move from one note to the other and thinking about what she plays and trying to discover new meanings.”
The highlight of Lee’s senior recital was her encore performance, which challenged her the most in terms of preparation. Initially, Lee did not plan on playing an encore piece. After careful consideration and coordination with Piano Studio Director Yu-Mei Wei, however, she decided to learn the piece *“I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still,”* a traditional Scottish song arranged for viola and piano by Rebecca Clarke. Because she did not originally intend to perform an encore, she needed to learn the music within a very short period of time. Lee dedicated the performance of her encore to her parents, especially her mother, who expressed the most support for her musical career.
Yoonsa’s viola instructor, Mr. Berner, expressed her significant improvement in understanding the viola’s technicalities and her dedication to expressing the composer’s intentions, regardless of technical perfection. Ms. Wei noted that it is always challenging to find the right balance while accompanying a violist since the viola is a “very warm and lower voice instrument, and a lot of the time the piano is overpowering.” Although it was a last-minute decision to polish and perform this piece, Lee believes that this challenge is a part of “a musician’s job” because this piece really tied everything together. Not only did the encore receive its second standing ovation of the night, but it moved many of the members in the audience.
Chen added, “Yoonsa gave so much into that performance that it made people like me in the audience tear up, and I feel like that’s the kind of dedication that is really important to musicians.” Daphne Huang ’25 was also moved by Lee’s performance. She said, “I thought Yoonsa really showcased the beautiful tones which a viola could showcase, and it was very moving when she played her encore and the speech about how it represented her mom’s efforts for her music.” Ms. Wei shared that she was “very inspired by Yoonsa’s music and sound,” and that Lee always plays with a direction. Rather than just perfecting her technique, she always carries an intentional message within her performances.
