Anjali Bose ‘20
Sejin Park ‘20 is May’s Artist of the Month for his exemplary skill and commitment to both the Upper School Orchestra and the Chamber Ensemble. Park said that “I play the viola in the Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble. I used to play the violin from second to sixth grade, and I’ve played the viola now from sixth grade to present.” Park has committed to the viola since middle school. “I really like playing the viola, it’s kind of stress relieving just to sometimes play some songs. Basically it’s just really fun and sounds nice.” Park said, “I really like the viola because it’s natural for the violins and the cellos to be good, but it’s really the viola that defines how good an orchestra can be.”
James Finegan, Middle and Upper School Orchestra Teacher, emphasizes Park’s importance in the orchestra as a violist. He said that “The viola is [the] really important middle part, I like to think of it as glue, it sort of ties the string section of an orchestra together.”
Finegan continued, “I’ve only been teaching Sejin for two years. He came here as a new student when he was a freshman last year, and he auditioned for Chamber Ensemble and got in almost immediately. He’s a very advanced violist. I was really happy to have him because it’s always great to have great viola players.”
Finegan added, “He’s a really strong leader in rehearsal, not verbally but just with his playing. He’s a really strong player, and he has a really nice sound, he gets that really quintessential dark tone that you look for in a violist.”
This school year Park has been involved in the the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association or PMEA, and he was selected to the All-state Orchestra in March, making him the first orchestral musician in eight years to reach this level. “There’s districts, regionals, and states,” Park explained. “I did districts in around November, and if you get in you get a chair and everything, and then you re audition at districts to see if you can get into regionals, and at regionals it’s pretty much the same thing. You re audition at regionals to see if you can get into states. It was kind of stressful but it feels good to get the auditions over with, and it feels even nicer when you actually get in.”
Finegan recalled Park’s audition experience from District to All-state orchestra and said, “[In districts] he auditioned with I think thirty other violists, and he ranked number two, which is obviously very impressive.” Finegan explained that, “Then he auditioned at districts and made it into the regional orchestra which is up in the New Hope area, so then he went up there and auditioned for states which is the highest level in Pennsylvania and he made the All State Orchestra. In that he auditioned for seating. There he came tenth out of twenty two violists, in the entire state of Pennsylvania, which is incredibly impressive.”
Park’s fellow Orchestra and Ensemble members echo Finegan’s praises. Karissa Lim ‘20, a cellist in the Upper School Orchestra, said, “He’s an amazing violist and he made it all the way to states on his first time trying, which is really amazing. He’s really talented and I’m so glad that I get to play with him.” Neera Raychaudhuri ‘20 said, “The thing about Sejin is that he seems really apathetic about everything but when he plays the viola you can see he’s really into it and really cares. You know that he’s being serious about it and is really passionate about it.”
Park’s passion and commitment to the viola and orchestra is evident by his skill, talent, and success both at Episcopal and in outside events and organizations. Finegan said, “Sejin’s kind of quiet but he’s really passionate about music, and a lot of classical musicians are kind of quiet and reserved in day to day life and then you give them an instrument and they come alive. Sejin is definitely one of those people.”