By Tanya Lesinsky Carey
This conference coincided with the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Korea Suzuki Association and attracted 1100 people from fourteen countries around the world. The Asian Suzuki Association has thirteen participating countries, including Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and India. There was also representation at the conference from Japan, Australia, Netherlands, USA, United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine. Guest Faculty were from Korea, Japan, Manila, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Leipzig, Switzerland, Antwerp, and the USA. It was held at a resort location in Yesan County, Chungcheongnam do Region, called Splas Resom Deoksan, Korea with mountains, hot springs, and snow (11 degrees F!).
I first met the president of the Korea Suzuki Association and founding member Kyung-Ik Hwang in 1993 at the Eleventh Suzuki World Congress in Korea. Then we talked about beginnings and dreams. In our talk at this current conference, we rejoiced to see the result of the dream of establishing a program for children to develop “musical sense, memory, concentration, and humanity through musical instruments, just as learning the mother tongue” in Korea and the Asian region. Korea has three sites for long-term Suzuki teacher education, including university training.
Mr. Hwang’s daughter, Sunkyung Hwang, was the General Manager of the Eighth Asia Suzuki Music Conference (may I also say that she is a cellist!). She led a volunteer Festival Committee of eleven Korean teachers, including her sister, violinist Sunyung B. Hwang. We were all impressed of how smoothly everything ran, from transportation south from Seoul, about an hour and a half away, to moving 1000 people to the Gala Concert in Gong Ju, about an hour and a half away. There were arrangements for Korean food, non-spicy food, special diets, and a spectacular restaurant for the faculty. The accommodations were in one tower and included two rooms with a bath and kitchen so that the faculty could live in one room and teach lessons in another. The Paganini string instruments shop set up in the entrance hallway connecting the two towers and provided rental instruments for travelers, repairs, and other string needs. The second tower had two sizes of rooms for groups. The ten-minute transition time between classes was very helpful.
The forty-four-page program was an amazing guide to everything we needed to know. There were classes for cellists, violinists, and pianists. But the national presentations included flutists, violists, string bassists, wind and brass orchestral instruments, and folk instruments from the various countries. The teachers had pedagogy sessions over three days from Koen Rens and Martin Ruettimann on violin and Carey Beth Hockett and Tanya Carey on cello. Every child had one individual lesson (forty-five minutes for upper books and thirty minutes for lower books). There were group lessons always taught by a different teacher. The leader in the concert would not likely have rehearsed the group. We were assisted by Korean teachers who helped with logistics and translation. There were three orchestras for the children and rehearsal times for the country groups to practice their presentation; a cello ensemble with students and teachers met three times and played on a concert. Zohara Rotem (Australia) presented classes in Suzuki Philosophy and Education and pedagogy along with Carolyn Cheng (Philippines). There were three concerts a day: after lunch, “Twilight” at 4:30 pm; and evening. The children played solos on the first two concerts.
Evening concerts (often longer than two hours with no intermission) presented a brilliant cross section of all going on in Asia. The musical arrangements were unique and varied.

Monday’s Welcome Concert featured eleven presentations from various groups: Korean Traditional Music, Suncheon Youth Orchestra; Philippine Suzuki Association Orchestra, Suzuki Gyeonggi Union Orchestra; a six-year old Vivaldi Violin Concerto in A minor; Thai Traditional Folk Song; Singapore Talent Education; Korea Cello Ensemble; Korean Suzuki Young Artists; and the entire violin faculty playing J. Raff Cavatina for two violins.
Tuesday’s Gala Concerto was held in the Dangjin Culture & Art Center with an excellent professional orchestra (Gong-Ju City Chungnam Philharmonic Orchestra), Narah Chung, Conductor. We heard eight presentations: three nine-year-olds played in turn Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3, Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, and Wieniawski Polonaise Brillante No. 2; Lalo Cello concerto first movement played by a fourteen-year-old; Mozart Piano Concerto K.466 by a ten-year-old; Tchaikovsky Violin Concert final by a fifteen-year-old; Sarasate Zigeunerweisen by a thirteen-year-old; and Dvorak Cello concert first movement by a seventeen-year-old.
Wednesday was the faculty concert of soloists with chamber orchestra. We heard two piano concertos (Mozart and Mendelssohn), two Mozart violin concertos, a Vivaldi double violin concerto, a Puccini aria, Boccherini Cello Concerto, Brian Lewis (SAA) played McLean ‘Fire’ from Elements, and Sunyung Hwang played the Bruch Violin Concerto Third movement.
Thursday: Seventeen ensembles from different countries played, starting with the cello ensemble class. The theatre was large and had three jumbotron monitors above the stage. A number of groups used these to illustrate their presentations such as the movie (silent) of Sound of Music showing as the group played, and Korean history cued to the various pieces. Many wore national dress. The logistics of getting the ensembles on and off stage was managed with great skill.
The final concert was Friday morning at 10 am, starting with three orchestras (Book One, Book Two, Book Three-Four). The Cello group started with the Vivaldi Double Concerto, Humoresque, and Webster Scherzo. Since the stage was small, they left so the second group could play “Witches Dance” down to Twinkle. Two more orchestras played (Book Five-Six, Book Eight and beyond) The first violin group to Book Three started with Bach Gavotte in G minor and ended with Twinkle. The second violin group played Shostakovich Prelude and Polka for two violins, Bach Concerto for two violins, Vivaldi Concerto in A minor, and Twinkle. I was impressed at the folding music stands even with the youngest performers who seemed to be reading and managing the complexity of assembling the stand and carrying it! Amazingly, the concert was over at noon and the buses had arrived to transport us all to airports, bus stations, and trains. Within an hour we were gone and saw the next group to use the facilities arrive!
It is difficult to put the meaning of this experience into words. I was grateful for the companionship of my daughter, Trina Carey Hodgson and that she was invited to teach several classes. She taught in Korea some thirty years ago. She got a text at the conference saying she was to evacuate her home in Sierra Madre because of the impending fire. Luck turned the fire in a different direction at a crucial time but a student of hers lost their home as did colleagues in her symphony.
I was grateful to see my colleagues from around the world and several who I had known only on Zoom through my pedagogy courses. I was especially happy to re-connect with Sensei Nakajima, Sensei Mizushima, and Carey Beth Hockett who have been in Suzuki cello development from its first stages. I felt connected to a larger world. I felt nurtured by the island of peace and happiness I felt during this time. I saw no child crying. Only one child the second day came to say, “I am falling asleep on my cello, what should I do?” I saw dedicated, competent teaching. The highest level in cello was the Dvorak Concerto—and there were three of them. Their formidable skills in my class led me to do outrageous challenges with the Book One pieces on the concert—octaves, tenths, sixths, the 3-D Twinkle—and they loved it, laughing and teasing each other to go one better. They even wanted to stay in the room and “jam” after class. I saw loving parents who did not intrude but were always there. I saw adult cello beginners enjoying themselves! I saw a lot of laughing. I heard children playing together with joy and purpose with many different languages but sharing the universal language of music. The quality of the organization allowed the process to work its magic. I felt Dr. Suzuki’s dream was alive and well and flourishing.