(This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

 

Jessica Lee
Welcome back to the Korean American Perspectives. My name is Jessica Lee. I’m the Senior Director of the Council of Korean Americans. And I’m here with my co-host, Dr. Abraham Kim. Today we’re thrilled to share our sixth episode of our podcast series with Angella Ahn, the violinist of the world-class Ahn Trio and a Professor of Music at the Montana State University. Abe had a chance to interview Angella over video recently. They had a fascinating conversation about Angella’s history of discovering music at a very young age, coming to the United States at age nine to attend Juilliard with her two sisters, and then eventually going on to release a number of albums and performing globally. So Abe, tell us about this particular interview and your conversation with Angella.

 

Abraham Kim
Well thank you, Jessica. It was a very fascinating interview with Angella. I knew Angella from my days in Montana. She was one of the few Korean Americans that were living in the entire state along with me and a few others, but it was a real interesting to dig into her life. I didn’t realize the number of accomplishments as well as just the important people that she’s been meeting around the world as a performer with her sisters. In this interview, we dig into her childhood. She came to the United States with her sister at a very young age of nine and then went on to get trained in Juilliard. And then also she became an important musician, as well as profiled in magazines like Time magazine in 1987 and performed at the White House at the State Dinner when President Obama had welcomed [then] South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. But also, finally, we talked a little bit about [how] she is an educator. She is a Professor of Music at Montana State University, and talked about the importance of art education, the arts, and how it’s not only important for our communities, but also important for shaping our lives and as a music professor, how she is really nurturing as well as sculpting the lives of these young people as they consider other future careers— not just music. So it’s a wonderful interview and I look forward to sharing with you.

 

Jessica Lee
Great. Well, without further ado, let’s turn over to the interview now.

 

Abraham Kim
Hi, my name is Abraham Kim. I’m the Executive Director of the Council of Korean Americans and I’m your host of CKA’s podcast, the Korean American Perspectives. Today I’m pleased to interview renowned world-class violinist and Professor of Music at Montana State University, Angella Ahn. Welcome, Angella.

 

Angella Ahn
Thank you so much Abe.

 

Abraham Kim
As a part of the Juilliard-trained multiple award winning Ahn Trio, with her twin sisters Lucia on the piano and Maria on the cello, the three of you have earned a tremendous reputation, pushing the genre boundaries of music, playing across all 50 states and in over 30 countries. Angella, we are so honored to have you here today, to not only talk about your life but also the importance of music and musical education. And so we’re looking forward to a great interview.

 

Angella Ahn
So excited to be speaking with you.

 

Abraham Kim
So let’s just get started with the beginning of your life. You and your siblings were born in South Korea and you came here at the age of nine, and you moved to New Jersey, where you and your twin sister entered into the Juilliard school to further your musical training. Tell me a little bit about that transition. You were old enough to actually have a certain level of self-awareness that you were in Korea and then came to the United States. Tell me about that.

 

Angella Ahn
So we grew up in Seoul and my sisters are almost two years older than me, so the three of us came and our mom pretty much brought [us up] by herself. What was really interesting about the transition, you know, people always ask us, “Was it very difficult? Was it very scary?” And I think for the three of us, it was only exciting and thrilling. You know, you’re going to this new place, this big [place]. And the first stop we made was Disneyland and that was like, “Wow, this is the coolest place on the planet” And then we moved to New York and New Jersey— actually, we settled in New Jersey. I’m sure our mother had many, many, many difficulties that she didn’t necessarily share with us. For us, it was very exciting. When I’m thinking about that period in my life, I think auditioning for Juilliard, pre-college and going there every week, it really had a huge impact in our happiness and settling into this new country. Because as exciting as the transition and moving to this new place was, we went to a regular middle school in New Jersey. There were no other Asian children. I think maybe there was one family, you know, other than us, and it was very sports-oriented. And so we really didn’t feel like we fit in in any way. But going to Juilliard on Saturdays and being surrounded by not only international children and kids from all over the world, but also kids that shared our passion was huge. And I think that really had so much to do with the happiness of the transition period.

 

Abraham Kim
Were your parents musicians? Is that how you got your first start in music?

 

Angella Ahn
It’s so odd. Both our parents are not musicians. Dad was in publishing growing up and Mom is where I think we get a lot of the creative juices. She’s a writer. I remember her telling us stories about being one of the first women to interview the Blue House in Korea, you know, be the staff or reporter in the Blue House. And she was always writing essays and short stories and so she had that artistic side, but neither of them played music.

 

Abraham Kim
Well, it must’ve been an interesting dynamic that all three of you, all three siblings were musicians. Tell us a little bit about the dynamics of your sisters and you.

 

Angella Ahn
Well, you know, it seems, it’s another interesting thing about our childhood. You know, we didn’t think of music as this kind of competitive profession when we were little. So it was sort of this natural thing that we shared and it was really fun. And in fact, Maria, the cellist, and I started playing our instruments because our pianist, our sister Lucia, wanted to play the piano and begged our parents back in Korea. So she started— and it wasn’t like she started the piano and our parents said, “You’re going to be a pianist when you grow up.” You know, she started a piano because she just fell in love with it in her kindergarten. And then when Lucia started, Maria and I, we’re so close in ages, right? And we just felt like, “Wow, why aren’t we doing something like that?” You know, if she gets to play the piano, why don’t we get to play the piano? So I think it was about a year after Lucia started when Maria and I also started on the piano. But we quickly wanted something different, you know, because the three of us, three girls, very close in age as you can imagine— we don’t all want to do the same thing. And so we ended up choosing the violin and the cello. and at that point, we had no idea that we would grow up, move to America, go to Juilliard, become a piano trio. We really didn’t!

 

Abraham Kim
When you came to the United States, you quickly were identified as one of the leading musicians in the world. And in fact, in 1987, you [and your sisters] were on the cover of Time magazine as “Asian American whiz kids.” Did you feel tremendous pressure from some of the publicity that you were getting during this time?

 

Angella Ahn
I think in a way we were lucky because if you grow up, as many musicians do, with musical parents, somehow you feel more pressure because they know the business, they know the world, they know what it takes. And in a way, I think it was a blessing that our parents were not musicians because they didn’t know that this was so competitive and so hard in a way. I think being a musician and making a life as a musician is not an easy life. So when we were on that cover story on Time magazine, I remember actually very clearly that Maria was at camp in Canada and Lucia and I were at Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Somebody contacted our teachers and said, “We would love to include the girls and we would like to send a photographer from Time magazine.” And so for us, it was kind of like, okay, we’re playing concerts and we’re playing with other kids and it’s fun and wow, this Time magazine photographer’s gonna come take a picture of us. We didn’t even really realize what that meant. We just thought it was fun. Looking back on it, I think, “Wow, that’s amazing.” But I don’t think we really even knew what that meant.

 

Abraham Kim
But as you grew older, did you feel, I guess you had alluded to it, that living in an Asian family, feeling the sense of pressure to constantly achieve and succeed and being a face for the community. Did you feel this kind of sense of pressure as you were moving forward in your career as a young person?

 

Angella Ahn
To be honest, I don’t… Well maybe later, you know, maybe not so much as teenagers and not so much, even, studying at Juilliard for college. Because of course with Juilliard, even pre-college and college and grad school, every single time you pass through a gate you have to re-audition and you’re not immediately promised the spot just because you were at school before. But none of them really seemed as scary or we didn’t feel so much pressure. I think the first time we really did feel pressure was, I was still in school and my sister had both gotten their master’s degree and we got scouted by EMI. Actually at first it was Sony and then EMI, and then a booking manager that wanted to send us all over the world. And I think that was when we really started feeling the pressure. You know, it’s a lot for a 20-something-year-old to be all of a sudden going all over the world traveling and there’s anywhere between 100 and 3,000 people who bought tickets to go see you play. And it’s incredible what it takes. If your flight is delayed and you’re tired or if you have a flu and you have a fever— no one knows that, you still have to go out and perform. So I think that’s when we really started full-time touring, when we really felt that pressure.

 

Abraham Kim
So let’s move forward in your career. Can you elaborate on your music style and selection? The Ahn Trio has often been described as genre revolutionaries, and your music’s not purely classical. It’s been described as a masterful combination of diverse genres— including rock music. So could you describe what style of music that you play?

 

Angella Ahn
I would say that what we play is classically-based music. So obviously we all have classical training.But what is happening in the classical music world. Just like when Brahms wrote a trio, he took things from Bach and earlier composers. So composers now are taking ideas from everything that’s around them. It’s just the world has become bigger and the cultures have blended more. So for me, our style is really just something that is very relevant to the world now. And I think the selections that we make come from, of course, our kind of passion and sort of the things that we’re interested in. But it’s also the composers that we run into and the artists that we run to. 

 

So as you’re traveling, you meet, for example, a rock band in the Czech Republic. And you, or at least us, we ended up collaborating with them. We live in New York and we ended up collaborating with a dance company that’s based in New York. We went to Korea and fell in love with the b-boy group. Do you know b-boying? Right? And so we ended up collaborating with a very well-known b-boy group, like an event in a very traditional arts center, which was really cool. Or you run into singers and then you think, “Oh, it would be so cool to work with them.” So then you end up collaborating with them. I feel like our style is something that has just evolved naturally and it just draws from everything from rock music to jazz to pop to classical to computer music. I mean, everything.

 

Abraham Kim
That’s amazing. So it sounds like you draw your inspiration from the people that you meet, just your global travel, as well as opening your mind and exposing yourself to all kinds of different genres. And from there, it drives your music choice and your collaborators and so forth.

 

Angella Ahn
I think that’s right. And the most basic inspiration comes from growing up in two different cultures. I think that’s huge. When you grow up just in Korea, you live there, or you grow up just in the United States, then you’re really very much just in that one culture. But when you spend a significant number of years in one culture and then you move to a different culture, then you’re drawing already from these two very different cultures. And then, like you said, just traveling around the world and meeting different kinds of musicians and artists definitely also affects our music.

 

Abraham Kim
Yeah. Speaking of different cultures, I read about that you performed with Bryan Adams at the White House, during the Obama administration in front of the President of Korea, if I’m not mistaken. I was there.

 

Angella Ahn
Okay, so they’re two separate things. So Bryan Adams was while we were at school, it was in the time of MTV music. And they called on some Juilliard students to come and perform with Bryan Adams, but it was very significant for two reasons. One, I think it was the first time we really understood this idea of what a rock star is, you know, just working with them and playing with them. And also it kind of inspired us to create our Ahn-plugged” album. We kind of got [that idea] from MTV’s “Unplugged.” So that was really fun. The White House was very separate from Bryan Adams. It was during the Obama Administration and President Obama had invited then [South] Korean President Lee. This was in 2011. It was a State Dinner and that was a completely different experience and it was so memorable because when you’re in a State Dinner, it’s such an intimate group of a couple hundred [people] and you eat dinner with everyone from American to Korean dignitaries. In fact, playing a concert on this made-up stage, I think it was in the Red Room or the Blue Room, everyone is sitting just feet away from you. There was then Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Korean President and First Lady Lee, and Hillary Clinton at my little 8-person dinner table with me. It’s such an incredible honor. And what we found so fascinating about that experience was when you walk into the White House and they have already vetted you and made sure that you’re supposed to be there, then it’s like any other concert or being with any other people. It’s so casual and warm and inviting. It’s just incredible.

 

Abraham Kim
What did you play that evening?

 

Angella Ahn
Of course, we thought very, very hard about what we wanted to play and we ended up playing one of our absolute favorite pieces that we just recorded on our Blue album called “Skylight”, written by David Balakrishnan. We ended up performing two of our favorite Astor Piazzolla pieces because I think this great, Argentinian tango music is loved by all— especially [by] Koreans.

 

Abraham Kim
Wow. I’m sure it wasn’t just an amazing evening of important dignitaries but just a fun evening with music and the two cultures together in a wonderful place like the White House.

 

Angella Ahn
Yes. It was so fun. And it was so, I mean, the thing that made the biggest impression on me was just how warm it was. You know, it was just lovely and so many hugs and it was just like, “Oh wow, this is so cool!”

 

Abraham Kim
You are an educator as well and you’re a Professor at Montana State University. I wanted to talk to you about your perspective on the arts and arts’ impact on education in the community. Art is often seen as an important bridge between cultures as well as different countries. I understand you’re also a member of the Montana Arts Council as well, whose main mission is to bring the arts into communities across the state of Montana. So just from a more kind of general sense, why do you think the art is critical in one’s education and the health of a community?

 

Angella Ahn
I think the arts is critical because of what it takes. That idea of creativity. And here’s what I think about a lot. No matter what you do, whether you’re a lawyer, a doctor, or a writer or a chef or a politician, I really think what you need more than anything else is creativity. And so for me, bringing art to every person’s life and all communities and even businesses is very, very important. And I think about this quite a bit too. So my students, maybe about half of them are Music majors, but the other half are not. They’re English majors or Engineering majors or Business or Nursing. Every single thing that we talk about at the lesson and all the things that I teach them are things like patience, attention to detail, listening. Listening is more important than anything else. So listening to the violin, listening to each other, if they’re playing in a group, and being very, very thoughtful. You know, you think about all those qualities and those are what everyone needs to succeed even if you’re not in music.

 

Abraham Kim
So through the music you’re teaching them life skills?

 

Angella Ahn
Yes, absolutely.

 

Abraham Kim
Well, speaking of listening and patience, it’s something that we definitely need more of in the political realm living here in Washington, DC. So do you think the arts have a role to play in politics and international relations?

 

Angella Ahn
The easy answer is absolutely. And think about what we have just been talking about –listening skills and being thoughtful and patient. Those are things that I think for politicians, and I know it’s easier said than done, I’m sure, but I think those are really, really important things to think about. Imagine if every politician was forced to play in a string quartet or a piano trio with each other, you know, in different parties. They would have to listen and speak and be respectful and all those things. So I think that’s the answer. Everyone should just playing a chamber group.

 

Abraham Kim
It’s a solution for world peace. Everyone should be playing in a chamber group.

 

Angella Ahn
Whether it’s a string quartet or even a string orchestra,  where you have to listen to each other.

 

Abraham Kim
Well, in another interview that I read that you gave, you discuss the balance between music and life. Stating, “We love music, but we want to live and want to experience life and we don’t want to give up other aspects just to be musicians. As much as we love music, life and the experiences of life come first.” So tell me a little bit about that quote. What did you mean by that and how do you balance between your musical life and other aspects of your life?

 

Angella Ahn
To me it seems that there are two different kinds of musicians. There’s one kind that lives and breathes music. They play music, they read about music, they listen to music, they study music and everything revolves around music. And then I think there’s another kind that is about half and half is my guess. I mean, I have nothing to support that. And then there’s the kind of musician that I think is more like me or even my sisters, where we’re very, very stubborn about not giving up on aspects of life and experiencing things like traveling, reading books that are not about music, spending an entire day making the perfect pie, you know? I mean, for me anyway, I try to ski as much as possible in the winter and in the summer. I tried to hike and play tennis as much as possible. And cooking all year round. Like every other Korean, I am crazy about anything that has to do with food. So it’s a balance. And how you balance, I think just by being very determined about not giving up on the experiences that you want. I’m really managing your time as well as you could.

 

Abraham Kim
Great words of wisdom about life. So you said your hobbies are skiing and hiking. Obviously there’s a lot of opportunities to do that in where you are in Bozeman, Montana, correct?

 

Angella Ahn
Yes.

 

Abraham Kim
Speaking of Montana, given your global career, you had the option to live anywhere in the world. Why Bozeman, Montana, especially when your sisters are all living in New York City?

 

Angella Ahn
I know my sisters were mad at me for maybe three years and now they’re finally not mad at me. Now they come as much as they –more than I think they should— no, I’m just kidding. But moving to Montana had nothing to do with my work, actually. It had everything to do with my personal life. I very briefly, without getting too personal, I fell in love with someone in Montana and moved here and that relationship didn’t work out. But what I got out of it was an incredible love for this state. And especially the town that I live in, Bozeman. And everything changed. Actually, my life changed when I got to Montana. Leaving New York and having lived in New York City for 20 years, I think the only thing I worried about when I first decided to move to Bozeman was, will I become kind of, I don’t know, softer, less inspired because New York is so busy and just so energetic? And what was really interesting was that the opposite happened. I became more focused. I had the space to— literally, but also philosophically, intellectually. This space to grow and create. I think it is the best choice I’ve made as an adult, was moving from Montana.

 

Abraham Kim
Well, having lived in Montana for six years, coming from DC, I completely understand what you’re talking about. Less distraction and there’s something inspirational about being in the middle of natural beauty, right? And also, like you said, space and people are very kind. And the sense of community within the state as well. I think all are important factors that help to give a sense of freedom.

 

Angella Ahn
Yes. I think we talked about this briefly before, but every time my mother comes to Bozeman, she always mentioned the fact that this reminds her of a small village in Korea where everyone really looks up to each other. They all come together. If you make a really great meal, the first thing you want to do is share it with other people. You know, I’m fortunate to have a very large group of friends in Bozeman and when I get busy, they look after my mother. It’s incredible! They call her and say, “Hey, do you want to go for a drive? Where are you going to meet for coffee?” And I don’t see that happening in New York City because of the tempo and the lifestyle. When I was invited to be part of the arts council, the governor, Steve Bullock, called and left me a message. I just can’t imagine that happening in New York. It’s just incredible to be in this place that is so community-oriented and so open.

 

Abraham Kim
As one of the handful of Asian Americans in Montana, what challenges and opportunities have you faced?

 

Angella Ahn
Well, the opportunity I think is amazing because I feel like I can be the Korean ambassador and teach people about my culture and especially about food. It’s really an incredible opportunity to be able to make a difference. And you know, beyond being Korean, I think about the fact that I can teach my kids at school. I can really make a difference, you know, taking my Juilliard training and bringing it to this small community. And I actually have four of my kids now, that have all gone on to teaching in public schools all over Montana and Missoula and Great Falls and Billings— and that’s incredible. So I’m taking the things that I learned from my teacher and even culturally the things that we were talking about earlier. The life lessons, you know, and they’re going out and teaching that to other little kids. So that’s really cool. The biggest challenge is not being able to go to Koreatown and just have a great bowl of kimchi jiggae when I want it.

 

Abraham Kim
So where do you get your kimchi? Do you, I guess you go to I-Ho Pomeroy’s restaurant, right?

 

Angella Ahn
Yes. One of our [city] council members are Korean and she’s wonderful. So yes, there is I-Ho’s restaurant. We actually have two Korean restaurants in Bozeman. But you know, when I moved here and I remember that decided to stay permanently, my mom said, “You have to have a kimchi refrigerator.” And so for now, every time she comes, she makes me enough kimchi until she comes the next time. Like six months’ worth of kimchi.

 

Abraham Kim
Wow, that’s a lot of kimchi.

 

Angella Ahn
One of the things she asked me to buy, the first time she visited me, was one of those big stainless bowls [where] you can make 10 heads of cabbage kimchi.

 

Abraham Kim
Do you find Montanans naturally interested in Korea? Do you get a lot of questions about Korea?

 

Angella Ahn
I do. AndI am able to share so many things about Korea with my students and my friends. I think Montanans, because it’s such a large state geographically but it’s such a small state number-wise, we just made a million people like a couple of years ago, so they are very, very interested. There isn’t such a big diversity here, which I missed, actually. Not hearing so many different languages while walking down the street. But yes, I think they’re very curious because in a way they’re so insulated.

 

Abraham Kim
So you mentioned that you occasionally go to Korea. Do you get an opportunity to go to Korea maybe once or once every couple of years?

 

Angella Ahn
Yes, that’s exactly right. I would say we have an opportunity to perform in Korea probably every other year or so. My sisters and I were there last summer. There was a big international music festival in Daejeon and we were there last year and we were able to spend almost a week. And it was lovely. We made this whole video for Korean TV and played with the symphony and just got to eat so much incredible Korean food. I think the time before that, we ended up going every few years;we’ve actually gone to perform at the closing ceremony at Busan film festival, but to  traditional venues and performance as well.

 

Abraham Kim
That’s great. So just a final couple of questions I wanted to ask you. You’re currently a tenured Professor of Music at the Montana State University and as we’ve already discussed, you’re in a community where there are not a lot of Korean Americans. I’m wondering how important it is for Korean Americans to be in communities where there is not a lot of diversity and not a lot of people who have access to Korea. I’m wondering what kind of influence that you’re having in your community, being perhaps one of the two sole representatives of our culture there.

 

Angella Ahn
I think every Korean American should travel and go into communities that aren’t in New York or LA or Chicago or DC, and share our culture with everyone. I think about all the things that our culture has, the sense of family and the care for. We have a great passion for beauty when it comes to food and everything from colors. And even just how we are with each other, always sharing, always encouraging.I think all those things are great things for us to be sharing with other communities as well. Things like respecting the elders. I think that’s a huge one.

 

Abraham Kim
Filial piety. That’s an important part of our culture.

 

Angella Ahn
Yes.

 

Abraham Kim
Yeah. So with such an illustrious career, I know you’re still young, but have you reflected on what you want your legacy to be as a Korean American leader? What do you hope to leave to our world? You’ve played beautiful music. You’ve walked on this earth and you’ve taught so many students. What do you want your legacy to be?

 

Angella Ahn
You know, it’s funny. I don’t think about my legacy so much. I really don’t. But, what I would love is while I’m here just to share the beauty of music, the beauty of kindness and the beauty of the sense of sharing, and not being pulled up by yourself, but really spreading your love and your passion for the beautiful things like music as much as I can. Of course, now that I’m a full-time teacher as well, I think about instilling these very important qualities in my students and showing them, hopefully by example, of what I’m feeling in Bozeman and what I do around the world and bring as much music as possible to my little community while I’m here, but also to the world. For example, I created a lunch series at the hospital where I bring students and have them play music for people that are sitting and they can just stop and have a sandwich. And it can be not only that patients that are well enough to go into the lobby but the staff and the doctors and the nurses. I’m also hoping that eventually I can actually bring students to places in the hospital where people can’t get out of their bed. And so just kind of like everyday sharing of the beauty of music and the arts and creativity.

 

Abraham Kim
Wonderful. That’s a wonderful way to end this interview. Thank you very much Angella for your time and your contribution to our community, to the Montana community as well as really being in ambassador for our culture. 

 

Angella Ahn
Thank you Abe. It was great talking with you.

 

Jessica Lee
that was fascinating. Thank you so much for the interview, Abe. What a pleasure to hear Angella’s story. I had the personal privilege of meeting Angella in Montana in May of this year for CKA’s Envision Retreat and was so touched by her humility,her warmth and her story of connecting with the people of Montana,being part of the local community and feeling so loved by people all around her. So it’s great to see Korean Americans who are thriving in some of the most remote places in the country and showing us what it means to lead a life of passion for music and the performing arts. I’m really moved by Angella’s contributions and really excited to see more of her, hopefully, through CKA.

 

Abraham Kim
Yes. She’s an important ambassador for us in places like Montana. And it was a real honor to, like you said, meet her recently as well as interview her. I am happy to say that she will actually be coming to our Empower Summit in November. As many of you know, CKA will be doing their flagship event, the Empower Summit, which will be bringing leaders like Angella Ahn from across the country to talk about the importance of Korean American leaders to support each other, the importance of learning from each other, as well as the  need to work together to provide opportunities for Korean Americans to reach the highest levels of leadership in the public, private, academic research, and many different sectors of our community and society. So this won’t be the last time you’ll be hearing from Angella. If you come to our summit, you’ll get to hear her perform at our event. So I look forward to seeing her there and hope many of you will see her there as well.

 

Jessica Lee
Great. We are so happy to have you today to hear Angella’s story and look forward to connecting with you in two weeks’ time for the continuation of this podcast series, the Korean American Perspectives. This is Jessica Lee and Abraham Kim and we look forward to your tuning in next time. Thanks so much.

Abraham Kim
Thank you.