By Honorary Reporter Keith David Nicholson from US
Photos = Hyemi Kim

Jasmine Choi is one of the world's most celebrated flautists in the modern era. Raised by a musician family in Daejeon, she has performed as a soloist abroad with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. The Korea Times called her "goddess of the flute," while the British magazine Sinfini hailed her as "one of the best flautists in the history of music."

During the 40th anniversary season of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul in 2018, Choi was named the center's artist-in-residence and also performed as a featured artist at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. She is now an official cultural ambassador for her hometown of Daejeon and often writes articles for the magazine Auditorium. 

She has also produced numerous flute arrangements of famous violin works and held premieres of over 10 flute concertos written specifically for her.

The following are excerpts from an Aug. 23 email interview with the musician. 

Jasmine Choi is considered one of the world's most celebrated flautists of the modern era.

Why did you become a musician?
A lot of people think that musicians chose their profession, but I think music chooses us. It's like we're destined to do this. I'm also from a musical family. My mother plays the violin professionally and used to rehearse a lot of chamber music at home. And my grandfather was an orchestra conductor.

What influenced you to take up the flute?

I started playing the violin and piano from an early age. In third grade, I started playing the recorder in school. My neighbor upstairs was learning to play the flute and could play many more notes than I could on the recorder, so I asked my parents if I could play the flute instead. I immediately felt like like the flute was what I would play for the rest of my life.

What about your artistic inspirations? 
I spent my childhood in Korea, my teenage years and 20s in the U.S., and my 30s in Europe. The exposure to varying cultures and languages all developed my unique style as both a person and a musician. When people listen to me playing, I'm often told my sound is unique and I appreciate that.

How has COVID-19 impact your life as a performing artist?
I started interviewing flautists I admired and doing YouTube livestreaming classes. I was gathering all the flautists I could, and we met quite often. We worked on one piece at a time, and I took live questions with video examples. Learning together is better than learning alone; music is meant to be shared.

What are interests do you have outside of music?
I live in a small town where I'm only one of a few musicians and the only Korean. My non-musician friends make me feel grounded whenever I come home. Here, I can be normal. I also love going to the lake for a swim, biking around the lake, go cycling downtown, having a cup of ice cream and going home.

What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?
If you're an aspiring musician, you cannot always wait for motivation to practice because sometimes it'll come but other times it won't for a long time. So just keep showing up. Do your work and practice every day. Especially when you're young, all the hours of practice will not betray you in making you the musician you want to be and creating the future you that you'll appreciate.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.