Damian Woetzel: Good evening, good evening and welcome. Damian Woetzel president of Juilliard, and it's a thrill to have you here for this WQXR Young Artist Showcase. I am joined here on stage by none other than Bob Sherman, the voice and the will behind this for decades, giving us this opportunity to share these young artists year after year after year. And it’s really great to be back here with you this year, Bob, and welcome Elliott Forrest, as well. Good to see you both.  

I want to be sure to thank the Harold W. McGraw Junior Family Foundation for their support in making this QXR Young Artist Showcase happen as well as the Robert Sherman Award for community outreach and for education, which is so key for us here tonight to also think about how these things all come together. And so, I want to greet all of you. And greet Bob and Elliott and say what an honor it is to do all of this tonight and always. Thank you so much, Bob. 

Bob Sherman: Well, here we are, another year, another visit to Lincoln Center, and another opportunity to meet the latest winners of Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer Competition. We're here at Paul Hall for our Young Artist Showcase, now in its 45th year on WQXR. It's a proud occasion for us and the Harold W McGraw Family Foundation. Tonight, we salute the two winners of the 2022 competition, Juhee Lim and Arthur Wang. Planned for the legendary Greek pianist, the Bachauer Award is among the highest honors the school can provide. The grant including scholarships for the full academic year and living expenses as well. And we all know how those are rising up in New York. So, now down to musical business. 

As I mentioned before, the Gina Bachauer Award here at Juilliard is among the most sought-after scholarships that the school has for any of its instrumentalists. So, let's begin with Juhee Lim, who was pursuing her bachelor’s degree here at Juilliard, studying with Robert McDonald. So, help me welcome Juhee Lim. 

She will begin with Schubert’s Impromptu No. 3 and follow that with the Allegro Agitato movement from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2. 

MUSIC – Schubert: Impromptu No. 3 

MUSIC – Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2  

Juhee Lim. Marvelous performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata, preceded by the Schubert Impromptu No. 3. We'll bring back Juhee later in our program today. But first, let me introduce a fellow whose cultural concern and dedication to communicating service has been the driving force propelling The Young Artist Showcase to its 45th anniversary on WQXR. 

It was his dad, Harold W McGraw Jr, who conceived the series and was our guest on program number one, and it was Terry McGraw who had a diverting note on the air every week. Great to see you, Terry, and I take it you haven’t lost your enthusiasm for helping me bring these wonderful young players to QXR? 

Terry McGraw: Never, I just can't believe that this is our 45th season that we're starting and with QXR. And we've done it with over 3000 musicians, and Young Artists Showcase under your leadership has made it all happen. 

 

Bob Sherman: Well, we try. One of the things that you made happen was an award. And it's named for a young musician. I can't recall at the moment who its… 

Terry McGraw: Well, it goes back to 2002. Okay. And we established the, uh, Robert Sherman Award, for music education and community outreach. And it was both that we were trying to put together. And so many of the musicians, um, have this attitude that they want to give back, and they want to do more for others and help others to benefit from it. We put it together under your name. And we have another one tonight.  

Bob Sherman: Yes, indeed. And perhaps Alberta Khoury could come and join us here. Hello.  

Alberta Khoury: Hello.  

Bob Sherman: How are you? 

Alberta Khoury: Good thanks.  

Bob Sherman: Now what have you done to deserve this high honor? 

Alberta Khoury: I want to start off by sharing how humbled and honored I was to receive this. It was such a big surprise to me, and I also want to thank my teachers and mentors throughout my life, including Alfred Alexander, Gregory Pikler, and of course my teacher, Sharon Isbin, for all their support and efforts. And I feel that community engagement is a really big part of what I like to do, um, which is especially a project and my dissertation called Music in Every Corner, which explores how the classical guitar can bring itself to different venues, particularly unconventional venues, um, in different ways, both in today's time and throughout history. 

So, I was really excited to begin by playing the guitar in different parts of this building, and it was really exciting to see, um, just connecting with different staff and members at Julliard with music. And then I wanted to take that idea out into the world in different parts, which is including in, Sydney, Australia, which is where I'm originally from. And in Sydney and especially the community that I'm from, it's very much not an active scene in the arts. So, I really enjoyed just volunteering, playing at different places, whether it was the library behind my house and seeing some people witness live music for the first time up close, like children and their parents. 

And I think just overall, it's really interesting for me to see how the classical guitar can broaden itself as a genre, so I've also explored, um, composition. In an album I recently released over the summer called Pangaea Calling, and that was all about the idea of connecting to a greener earth, especially in this time of climate change happening. The purpose of that album also was to branch out to other different styles of guitar because we know that it's a very all-encompassing genre, and that in itself connects to the idea of connecting with more audiences and everyday communities in and of itself. So, there is some ideas that have come to mind.  

 

Bob Sherman: So, there are many, many streams that flow into your music making.  

 

Alberta Khoury: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm also very inspired by my time here at Juilliard as a community engagement fellow, um, a Gluck fellow and a Morse fellow, which include playing and teaching in different communities here, and that's also really opened my eyes to the importance of that, of being a citizen artist.  

Bob Sherman: Well, citizen artist is a good description. And, uh, Terry McGraw, I'm delighted that you singled her out to for special treatment, and the special amount… 

Terry McGraw: Well, and I think that, uh, from Julliard's standpoint, they help us a lot in terms of looking over a lot of the students and the doctors, uh, that study here to pick Alberta. You know, you talked a little bit about, you know, your homeland of Australia. You’ve done a lot there. And the community outreach part is something that we all get very excited about because it brings music to the attention of so many that don't necessarily get it. And you've been very special in being able to do that. So, uh, Bob, uh, if I can, I've got here a certificate. Uh, signed by me that I know is gonna be very important to you and you're gonna want to think, but if it isn't, okay, here's a check that goes along with it to help you with everything else. It's all yours.  

Bob Sherman: So, we send Albert off with a nice check, and now I think I'm gonna turn over the, uh, hosting job of the Young Artist Showcase to Elliott Forrest.  

Elliott Forrest: Thank you so much, Bob. And, uh, thank you again for all that you do. That was the first half of the Gina Bachauer Competition Recital, which took place at Juilliard earlier this Fall. You’ve just heard us speak with Alberta Khoury, the recipient of the McGraw Family Foundation Outreach and Education Award. Now, we have three tracks from her recently released album Pangaea Calling. These original compositions were inspired by a connection to a greener Earth. You can listen to the album on all streaming platforms. Here is Alberta Khoury playing “Synthetic Dance,” “Tau of Time,” and “Pangaea Calling.” 

MUSIC – Khoury: Synthetic Dance 

MUSIC – Khoury: Tau of Time 

MUSIC – Khoury: Pangaea Calling 

That was “Synthetic Dance,” “Tau of Time,” and “Pangaea Calling” from guitarist Alberta Khoury. She was presented with the McGraw Family Foundation Outreach and Education Award at the Gina Bachauer Competition Recital earlier this Fall. We’ll return for the rest of the recital after a quick break. 

We’re going to continue the Young Arts Showcase this evening here, and it’s a pleasure to welcome the second co-winner of the Gina Bachauer Competition, Arthur Wang. Uh, he received his Bachelor of Music here studying with Jerome Lowenthal, and he is currently pursuing his master’s degree. Uh, his choices for tonight, including the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, originally for organ, which I don’t think he’ll play it on. I think it'll be this, uh, this beautiful piano. We'll hear the second and the third movements, the Adagio and the Fugue, and he'll follow that with the finale from Stravinsky’s Three Movements of Petrushka. Please welcome Arthur Wang. 

MUSIC - Bach: Organ Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major 

MUSIC - Stravinsky: Petrushka, Finale 

Highlights from Petrushka by Stravinsky. Before that, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of his Toccatas played by Arthur Wang here in Paul Hall, one of the co-winners of this year's, Gina Bachauer Competition. I'm Elliott Forrest with Robert Sherman here on WQXR. And Bob, one of the great things about this competition and of-oftentimes these, uh, performers become friends. 

Bob Sherman: Exactly! 

Elliott Forrest: And, uh, that's gonna happen tonight or we're gonna see a great example of that because, uh, what you folks, uh, listening on the radio don't know is there's actually two pianos on stage right now. And, uh, we're gonna ask our, our winners, our performers to come back on stage. We're going to hear Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini for Two Pianos. So, we'll welcome back to the stage, please, Juhee Lim and Arthur Wang. 

MUSIC – Lutoslawski: Variations on a Theme by Paganini for Two Pianos  

What a grand occasion here at Juilliard for The Young Artist Showcase! Uh, congratulations once again to our prize winners Juhee Lim and Arthur Wang, and to Alberta Khoury, the 2022 recipient of the Outreach and Education Award named from my dear friend, Bob Sherman. 

At Juilliard, we also want to thank, uh, Damian Woetzel, the Juilliard president, as well as their chief engineer, Sascha von Oertzen, the stage manager, Tim Wells, as well as producer Annabelle Avenier and Kim Furano, also Kevin Boutote, Director of Recording. Uh, we wouldn't be on the air at all with this program without the generous underwriting of the Harold W McGraw Jr. Family Foundation and the personal support of Terry McGraw. Once again, Terry, thank you so much for everything that you do. 

Bob Sherman: Great thanks to the support for Terry McGraw and thanks again, Terry. I'm most grateful as well for your presence here tonight. Joanna Banas and, uh, Eileen Gabriele, who are also with us, and, uh, Julliard. Thanks, above all, to Elliott Forest. My thanks to WQXR producers Laura Boyman, and well, I guess that's it. I'm Bob Sherman. Thanks much everybody. 

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