An active chamber musician and a celebrated piano soloist with philharmonic and symphony orchestras from New York to Saint Petersburg to Seoul, Yoon-Wha (Yuna) Roh is a recent addition to the WSU School of Music. She has presented solo and chamber recitals at venues around the world and appeared in major music festivals such as the Prague Music Performance and the Aspen Music Festival.
What is your main research topic?
My current focus of repertoire is on Beethoven Sonatas, and I will be performing three piano sonatas of Beethoven for a WSU Faculty Artist performance on January 28. When this project is completed, I am planning to explore the piano music of the late Romantic period for 2021.
What classes do you teach at WSU Pullman?
I currently teach applied piano, collaborative piano, and applied theory.
What brought you to Pullman?
The School of Music has great facilities, and wonderful artists/pedagogues who are my colleagues now. Also, a fantastic recording studio! Last but not least, I fell in love with the beautiful campus when I first visited.
How has COVID19 changed how you teach?
Teaching piano online brought so many challenges to overcome – latency issues, not being able to play concurrently over #Zoom, students without instruments at home, etc. Many adjustments had to be made and the most noticeable change is that everyone is asked to make recordings – for juries, ensembles, and assignments. And recording takes at least double amount of time, if not triple, to make one good take, compared to the live performance that you only get one chance to do so.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I’m very much a kid in heart – still love to play Nintendo, read mangas, and do LEGO.
Top image: Yoon-Wha Roh
Adapted from WSU Pullman’s FacultyFriday on Facebook.