The lights dim as everyone goes silent. Wearing an all-black outfit, she walks to the lit stage and sits, resting her fingers on the keys. After collecting her breath, Hyunjin Roh begins her piece.
The South Korean pianist and the first-prize winner of the 2025 Paderewski International Piano Competition in Poland performed at Loyola Marymount University’s Murphy Recital Hall at 3 p.m. on Sept. 27.
Originally based in South Korea, Roh recently moved to Los Angeles and now attends Colburn School, enrolled in the Artist Diploma to further her arts education. Ever since her debut at the Kumho Young Artist Concert in 2014, she has continued to perform and earn recognition in international competitions. She has also performed at major venues in the United States and South Korea, including Carnegie Hall and Seoul Arts Center.
Wojciech Kocyan, the President of the Paderewski Music Society, organized the concert. The society is a nonprofit organization upholding the legacy of Polish pianist and philanthropist Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Although it has no direct affiliation with LMU, the last two American International Paderewski Piano Competitions were held at Murphy Recital Hall, with one in 2022 and the most recent in February of this year. Kocyan is also the Clinical Professor of Piano and Aural Skills and an Applied Piano Instructor at LMU.
“I became familiar with her because of [the Paderewski International Piano Competition], and we invited her to play in Los Angeles,” Kocyan said. “She’s a wonderful artist.”
Student workers guided attendees at the entrance to Murphy Recital Hall, alongside Hogan Hall and the Laband Art Gallery. Tickets were ten dollars for general admission, while entry was free for students and faculty with a OneCard. Murphy Hall holds 212 seats that serve as a rehearsal space for ensembles and is the primary performance venue for the music and dance department. Fixed wooden acoustical panels surround the center stage with a grand piano.
Roh began with 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, by Franz Schubert, which ran around 30 minutes.
For Noah Bray-Ali, a concert attendee, the performance brought back memories from his own musical experience 30 years ago.
“What I found powerful in Roh Hyunjin’s playing in the second impromptu, Opus 90 from Schubert, was on the left hand, the thumb,” Bray-Ali said. “The thumb is kind of like a human voice for man and [the] middle of the keyboard, so that voice, very rarely do we hear it. Roh Hyunjin has this power to move with the thumb of the left hand in the middle of the keyboard.”
After a brief intermission, she played all four of Frédéric Chopin Ballades: G Minor, Op. 23, F Major, Op. 38, A-flat Major, Op. 47, and F Minor, Op. 52.
“I’ve been listening to Schubert, so I was really delighted to hear all the different impromptus,” Kevin Hoover, another concert attendee, said. “But I would have to say it was the Ballade in A-flat Major, Opus 47, that was amazing.”
Murphy Recital will hold a Music Faculty Recital on Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. and An Evening of Jazz event on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.
Feature photo courtesy of LMU’s Music Department.
