Jordan Bak
Jamaican-American violist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jordan Bak is a Jamaican-American violist.[1]
Early life and education
Bak graduated from the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory.[1] While at New England Conservatory, Hsin-Yun Huang, Dimitri Murrath, and Samuel Rhodes were his professors.[1]
Career
In 2019, Bak won the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition,[1][2] and in 2021, he was named a YCAT Robey Artist.[2] Other achievements include receiving a Kovner Fellowship and the Sphinx MPower Grant.[1][3]He has performed at London's Wigmore Hall, New York's Merkin Concert Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, and Baltimore's Shriver Hall.[1]
In May 2022, Bak released his debut album titled IMPULSE (Bright Shiny Things).[2] The album features compositions by Tyson Gholston Davis, Toshio Hosokawa, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, and Joan Tower.[2] With the exception of one work by Rebecca Clarke, each composition was written in the last four decades.[4][4] Pianist Ji Yung Lee appears on the Impulse album, joining Bak on Clarke's Untitled and on Toshio Hosokawa's arrangement of Takemitsu's A String Around Autumn.[4] The album reflects Bak's creative interest in the physical properties of sound. [4]
Bak held a faculty position as the Professor of Viola at Bowling Green State University,[2][5] served as a Visiting Artist and Ambassador for Music Masters in London, [5] and gave masterclasses at Oberlin Conservatory,[5] Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University,[2] University of Wisconsin-Madison,[2] Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (UK),[2] Conservatorio del Tolima (Colombia),[2] and the Brevard Music Center.[2][5] He held a faculty position with the Opportunity Music Project in New York.[2]
Composers Eli Greenhoe, Sampo Kansurinen, Caroline Shaw, and Delong Wang have collaborated with Bak.[6][7] Another collaboration includes Bak playing with the Takács Quartet.[8][9] The New York Classical Review wrote that "Bak's playing was so constantly involving and impressive that one was drawn to each note and phrase."[9] Other collaborations include chamber music tours with Musicians from Marlboro and the CAG on Tour [1] and being a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.[6][7]
Playing viola and mezzo-soprano, Bak appeared in the world premieres of Kaija Saariaho’s Du gick, flög[6][7] and in the world premiere of Die Aussicht for string quartet and soprano.[6] He also performed with The Juliard Orchestra in Druckman Viola Concerto at Alice Tully Hall in New York.[7]
Composer James Ra wrote a Concerto for Three Violas and Strings that featured three soloists: Jordan Bak, Ramón Carrero-Martinez, and En-Chi Cheng.[10] They brought varied timbres to their respective roles which often divided into three primary ranges of high and lofty, warm and tenor-like, and supportive depth and across a textural spectrum.[10] In the second movement, the concertizers traded solos as an alternate approach to three solo violists.[10] Jordan Bak led the consort.[10] Bak and music director Dong-min Kim led the movement's finale.[10]