The Long Island Piano Trio has only been together for a relatively short amount of time, but these three young ladies — playing the piano, cello, and violin — are already making waves in the local music scene with their talented take on the classics.
Dahyun “Diane” Park of Commack, a senior in high school and the pianist of the trio, noted that she met her partners — cellist Michelle Shin of Plainview and violinist Mi Kyoung Kim of Hicksville — through their church’s youth orchestra.
“We first came together in late 2013, when we started having rehearsals…we were mainly aiming for a competition in January with our youth orchestra, where we placed second,” she said. “The three of us were all good on our individual instruments, so after that we decided to form a piano trio. Well, we didn’t really decide on our own…we were sort of pushed by our mothers, but we didn’t mind since we were friends already, and it was a good way to be able to play pieces of our own.”
Eventually, the ladies decided upon the name “The Long Island Piano Trio,” and began to play a series of dates, entertaining folks at places such as hospitals and senior centers; Park noted that the transition from the orchestra to just a three-piece ensemble wasn’t particularly jarring due to the fact that all three girls had already been performing in solo recitals for a number of years.
Shin, a junior in high school, has been playing both the piano and cello since fourth grade. Once she became serious about the cello she had to give up tickling the ivories in order to concentrate her musical studies. Shin said that while she has played along on stages previously, she far more enjoys being a part of a group…especially this group.
“When I do solo performances in front of people, but I feel a lot more confident and less nervous when I do performances with these girls…it feels very assuring because I have people with me who feel the same way,” she said. “There’s a lot of teamwork involved in doing ensemble music, especially since we’re already very good friends and we understand each other’s styles of playing…we get along very well, both on and off the stage.”
Violinist Kim recently began her first year of college. She has been playing the violin since the first grade, and since both of her parents had graduated from music colleges themselves, she seems to have been preordained to be talented in that field herself. Playing in the Long Island Piano Trio, she said, has been a great learning and growing experience.
“I think it’s fun, and comforting since I’ve known them for a while and it’s easier to offer constructive criticism…if I didn’t know them, I’d feel like I was being rude,” she said. “We all compliment each other’s style very well, and I really enjoy it when we all get to practice and play together.”
For the most part, the Long Island Piano Trio sticks to classical piece of music at their recitals, but Park noted that recently they’ve been trying to expand their repertoire. At a recent concert they held at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library, she said that the Trio included a few slightly more modern pieces on their play list.
“Our main piece at the concert is Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor…it’s a pretty long piece if you don’t cut anything out…it’s about a solid ten minute movement right there,” she said. “We did a few slightly contemporary pieces as well…we did a piece from Phantom of the Opera, and Oh Danny Boy. That’s about as modern as we get right now.”
As for the future, Park just said that they’re taking it one performance at a time; for the time being, they’re going to maintain the status quo, playing classical and semi- contemporary for audiences. As for possibly adding in original works, Shin stated that it was unlikely as the ladies are far too busy in their lives to devote the time needed to such a complicated process; however, she added, you never know.
“Composing? Well, I’ve composed stuff in the past because I’ve taken musical composition classes,” she said. “I’d love for us to compose some original stuff for us to play, but with school and everything, I don’t think we’d have the time to make a good enough piece for people to listen to. But that might be in the future.”
