Sissi and PSQ were featured in Chinese newspaper

People's Daily News Overseas Edition. (July 3, 2020)

Encourage people to fight against epidemic with artworks

Since the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, young overseas Chinese artists have actively used their works to contribute to the success of the anti-epidemic. From donations and donations to holding a "cloud concert", from creating oil paintings to designing jewelry... Overseas young Chinese artists actively create and use their works to convey the power to overcome the epidemic.

"Use music to convey courage"

"Music has the power to transcend time and space. Under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, I hope that the music I play can be like a ray of sunshine and break through the haze." Zhang Yuqing, a violinist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra of the United States, told the newspaper... (translated by "Google Translate")

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Thank you so much for coming to our Fall Concert!
Please enjoy our YouTube video of "Four Rivers" from the concert.

Mark Gresham (b.1956)
Four Rivers (2015) - World premiere commissioned by the Peachtree String Quartet*
I. Chattahoochee
II. Tallulah
III. Etowah
IV. Toccoa
*The commissioning of Four Rivers was made possible in part with funds from Fractured Atlas, a 501 (c)(3) public charity based in New York City

Peachtree String Quartet performs the third movement of Charles Ives' String Quartet No. 1 in a private home soiree.

- July 3, 2014

Portraits of Atlanta immigrants
9 men and women share their voices, their stories
By Joeff Davis

Forty-four years ago, your chances of hearing a foreign accent in Georgia were slim. At the time, less than 1 percent of the state's population had been born abroad. But in the decades since, Georgia, once shackled by segregation, has become one of the more diverse states in the union. In 2012, according to the Pew Research Center, nearly 10 percent of the state's population was born in another country.

Much of that growth has been centered in metro Atlanta. Last year, the Atlanta Regional Commission estimated that approximately 14 percent of the 20-county region's population was foreign-born. Among the 20 other most populous metros across the country, the metro Atlanta region ranked 14th. But when researchers measure its change in growth over the 2000s, the region lays claim to the second-fastest growing foreign-born population, lagging only Baltimore. In some counties, such as Clayton, foreign-born men, women, and children fueled the majority of the population growth during the booming 2000s.

Approximately 25 percent of Gwinnett County's population — enough people to fill almost three Georgia Domes — was born in another country. You could pack six Philips Arenas with the DeKalb County residents who are originally from overseas.

…

Name: Yang-Yoon Kim
Age: 32
Job: Viola player, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Country: Seoul, South Korea

How did you get to Atlanta?
Because of this job with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. I worked really hard and I won the audition and the rest is history. Mainly my life revolves around the practice room. For long periods of time, for I would say about four or five months. I sleep, I eat and go to practice room, and spend the whole day there, come back home, sleep, eat, and wake up the next morning.

What were the circumstances under which you come to the U.S.?
I got my bachelor's degree in Korea. I came to the states to study, to extend my study in Indiana and it was my sixth year in Indiana and I found out that there was an opening here.

What were your impressions of the U.S.?
Korea is such a small country. It's homogeneous. What I saw growing up was people having the same pattern of thinking and behavior, but what most shocked me actually was that people in America are so open to the diversity. They embrace it. They know how to embrace the differences.
Back in Korea, I used to believe that there's only one right answer to everything, what everyone agrees on, but here you don't get scrutinized because you have a different opinion of things.
In Korea, even to go to grocery stores, somehow, it's cultural you somehow need to be presentable. But here they're OK with just showing who they are, they'll just be comfortable.

What is the Korean attitude toward America?
Seoul has grown really big economically. It has become a very rich country, but I think deep down they still have the American dream. I think they are developing to create their own culture because [South Korea] was such a poor country. Back then we had to depend on other rich countries. Nowadays they are trying to get out of that and yet they still have that dependency.
I think mainly [the American dream is] the land of opportunity. If you have will in the states I think you can get there. But in Korea it's still not as true. I feel like I'm living it.

How so?
Well, I'm having an interview with a magazine. And I get to play for thousands and thousands of Atlantans every week. And I think it goes back to what I was talking about before. Americans know how to embrace the diversity. I am by no means an American, I am very much a Korean, but they took me in and if you have the capability they let you use that ability.

How would you describe America in three words?
I think it's a land where people from all over the world came and became one.

What does it feel like to play in the orchestra?
There is obviously a colossal meaning to music. I think it's a universal language that you can pour your heart out through the music. It expresses who you are.

What has been the hardest part of being an immigrant?
Getting a visa. Actually my process wasn't that hard. I won this great job, but if I screw up just a little bit on the visa application process I have to go back because I won't have any status here. So that mental stress was probably a big struggle. Student visa wasn't hard to get because I had the acceptance letter from the school, but for the job I had to prepare all the achievement that I had. But I was a student, I mean I did a lot of stuff but still I felt like that wasn't enough. And my visa is not a working visa per se. It's called 01. It's for extraordinary ability, people with extraordinary ability.

- July 2014 issue

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Arts ATL

30 Under 30: For cellist Jennifer Humphreys and Atlanta Symphony, lucky number was 13
August 26, 2013 - By Stephanie Adrian

Jennifer Humphreys is one of the youngest players in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. At 29, she has achieved the status of cellist in a major symphony orchestra, an uncommon feat for one so young ...
... ArtsATL: You do not think of yourself as a soloist?
"No. I don’t like being the center of attention. When you play in an orchestra, you’re part of a team. I also play in the Peachtree String Quartet. In a chamber music setting you are exposed, but you’re still part of a team and can feed off of the other players’ energy ... [Read full story]

Review: Peachtree String Quartet makes strong debut with Haydn, Barber and Mendelssohn
April 23, 2012 - By Mark Gresham

... The three selections, each representing a different musical era, did not pose any aesthetic conundrums for the audience to ponder, but they proved an effective vehicle for beginning to assess the strengths of the Peachtree String Quartet and what could emerge as its signature sound, something that will come with time. The group shows genuine promise of rapidly becoming one of the city’s core classical chamber music ensembles, and as Pulgram said to a member of the audience afterward, “We’re committed to making this grow.”.... [Read full story]

Review: In a tale of two venues, Peachtree String Quartet delivers fresh takes on Ives and Beethoven
April 22, 2013 - By Mark Gresham

... Thus the performance at Garden Hills sounded livelier, more immediate and engaging — a fresher breath of air. The players hit their groove with the Ives, from its opening fugal movement onward, and kept it energized and alive through the end of the Beethoven. And for all the seriousness of both of these works, the quartet brought out the intimate and playful aspects in each — something which, for all the more frequently emphasized curmudgeonly elements of their personalities, both composers possessed aplenty... [Read full story]

Review: Roll over Beethoven, Peachtree String Quartet plays the Beatles at Eddie’s Attic
February 14, 2013 - By Mark Gresham

The Peachtree String Quartet is less than a year old, but in that brief time its musical identity has been rapidly coming into focus ... Although the concert was promoted as “The Killer B’s,” in reference to composers such as Beethoven, Boccherini, Bridge and Borodin, it fortunately made use of other letters of the alphabet rather than sticking too closely to that plan. What we got was a balanced evening of music with cohesiveness but enough depth and range to leave the audience with the satisfying feeling of a good night out... [Read full story]

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Buckhead violinist brings his music home
April 19, 2012 - By Joe Earle

It wasn’t always easy. Christopher Pulgram admits that. Atlanta seemed like a different place then, back when he was a kid. He got teased for playing the violin. He remembers times he wanted to play soccer with his buddies in Buckhead rather than put in another hour of practice on his instrument ... “I wanted to play the violin when I was 6 years old,” Pulgram said. “I didn’t always want to practice”... [Read full story]