Red Cedar Chamber Music re-connects with violist for ‘Old Friends’ concert series

Sometimes life separates the best of friends as they move from college to careers. And sometimes, the winds of fate blow them back together years later.

That’s what happened to violinist Miera Kim of Iowa City and Choong-Jin Chang, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Classmates at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in the late 1980s, they lost track of each other until the Philadelphia Orchestra played at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City on March 9, 2022.

Then and now

She was 16, he was around 20 when they met, Kim said. United by a shared Korean heritage, he looked after her like a big brother.

“We were good friends,” she noted, but she dropped out of Curtis after that year, and moved back to Iowa City. “This was, of course, before the age of pretty much even email ... certainly before smartphones and social media, and so we just completely fell out of touch.”

When technology at your fingertips kicked in, she “didn’t think to look him up.” Then fate stepped in. A friend offered Kim and husband Carey Bostian tickets to see the Philadelphia Orchestra at Hancher. And she spotted Chang’s name among the musicians.

She decided to reach out to him on Facebook. He replied that he’d love to see her while he was in town, since the orchestra was spending the night in Iowa City.

“So he ended up coming over to our house,” Kim said, “and we just had the best time — Carey and Choong-Jin and I — sitting in our kitchen, eating cheese and crackers and salami, and reminiscing ... catching each other up on our lives. ...

“When we started talking, it was if a day hadn’t passed,” she added.

Since Bostian and Kim are the core musicians and directors of Red Cedar Chamber Music, they extended an invitation for Chang to join them in concert, when his schedule allowed.

The stars lined up again, and he will perform in a series titled “Old Friends.” It launches this week in area senior centers, with violist Donghee Han in the spotlight. The public performances from March 27 to 30 will feature Chang as guest violist.

The lone ticketed main-stage concert will be held at 7 p.m. March 30 at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. To avoid scheduling a concert on Easter, the Cedar Rapids appearance will be a free event at noon March 28 at the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

The program opens with Andrea Casarrubios’ April 2020 work, “ … in the age of noise.”

“It was commissioned by the Manhattan Chamber Players when the lockdown started,” Bostian said, “and is all about breathing.”

The composer was living in the noise of New York City, which came to a screeching halt during the pandemic.

“It was just so disturbing and shocking,” Bostian said of the sudden lack of traffic and other city noises. “The piece is about three minutes long and it’s basically one day — inhale and exhale. It's all breathing gestures, which add up to one big, long breathing gesture.”

Red Cedar has been presenting the work in area schools, doing breathing exercises with the students, “and they love the piece,” Bostian said.

Chang will then step into the spotlight for Bach’s “Sonata for Viola da Gamba,” with Kim and Bostian playing the right and left hands of the harpsichord part, respectively.

Ingrid Stolzel’s work, “Fides, Spes” — Latin for Faith, Hope — was inspired by Willa Cather’s poem of the same title.

“It is an ode to the cyclical nature of the seasons: the vibrancy of summer, matureness of fall, death of winter, and the hope that comes with spring,” Bostian noted in announcing the program.

The final selection brings a touch of heavy metal to the program, with Michael Kimber’s “Violas on Fire.” Originally created as a viola quartet, Kimber has rearranged the piece for violin, viola and cello, keeping the same fiery spirit flying off the strings.

Kimber, who has served as Red Cedar’s composer-in-residence, brings great breadth and depth to his work.

“He can write so it sounds like Debussy, and then it’s AC/DC,” Bostian said, “so that’s going to be a lot of fun.

“It’s a really good program for the audience. There’s a lot to talk about.”

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