In her post-pandemic return to the East Meadow Library on Long Island, classical guitarist Jiji showed why she’s known for performing wide-ranging compositions.
The South Korean native opened her Dec. 4 solo show with Occhi io vissi di voi, by Italian Baroque composer and nun Claudia Sessa, and closed with Caprice No. 24 by Paganini. In between, she played Harold Arlen's ballad Over the Rainbow, written for the 1939 film Wizard of Oz, and reinterpreted Bach's BWV 998, originally scored for harpsichord and lute.
Among contemporary classical pieces, she performed “Abigail,” a virtuosic composition she commissioned from American composer Natalie Dietterich.
“She was really interested in this guitar technique called campanella, where you have multiple guitar strings ringing over to create this beautiful resonance and harmonies,” Jiji told the audience of Dietterich and her piece.
Jiji also played “Tango en Skaï,” a showpiece set from one of French classical guitarist Roland Dyens’s concert improvisations.
Jiji performed with a graceful, seamless and subdued style, neither heavy on accents nor dynamics.
Born in Seoul, Jiyeon Kim, a.k.a. “Jiji,” was nine when she took up guitar. Six years later, she moved to the U.S., studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and earned a Bachelor’s degree in guitar performance. After receiving her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, she landed a position as assistant professor of guitar at Arizona State University’s School of Music, Dance and Theater in 2018. That year, she released her debut EP Underglow.
She has performed with ensembles that include Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony and Kansas City Symphony, and given recitals at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York.
During her program at East Meadow Library, where she last performed in 2018 before her Carnegie Hall debut, Jiji acknowledged a return to her roots.
“It’s so nice to be back from where I started,” she told the crowd.
Photos by Joseph Kellard