Good evening ladies and gentlemen, (boys and girls).

First and foremost, thank you very much for taking your valuable time to come to the concert tonight. My name is Brendon Cho and I am a friend of Hyung Suk, the cellist and I have been the principle sponsor of MIE for 3 years.

For those who have not been to our concert before, sitting in such close proximity in a confined space like this you may find uncomfortable. To ease off the tension, allow me to tell you about untold stories of Robert Schumann.

A Russian composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky and Robert Schumann had something in common. Both of them went a law school but Schumann dropped out and changed his profession to a composer and a music critique. There was a time when I seriously considered changing my career to become a composer. However I gave up on my dream because my mother said ‘It would be unwise to suddenly change your career, especially when you have a wife and 3 children, because it may result in unexpected outcome called – divorce’.

Schumann married the daughter of his piano teacher and her name is Clara. While Scumannn and Clara were deeply in love but Clara’s father did not approve the marriage. Schumann decisively elected to sue his future father-in-law by utilizing his legal knowledge, and married Clara successfully. If you have a daughter and one day she brings a law school drop out pianist to you, now you would have a very good reason to worry.

Schumann died at the age 45. He committed a suicide by throwing himself to a river at the age 43. He was rescued but was not able to overcome his mental illness and subsequently passed away 2 years later. Some may argue that the marriage with Clara did not work out well. However, that is untrue. Schumann composed more than 130 master pieces during 13 years of marriage. Undoubtedly Clara was the fountain and the true source of Schumann’s musical inspiration.

I have seen some of you laughing and smiling during my speech, and that is a good sign of relief. Now I shall conclude my speech by reminding you with putting your phone on airplane mode. Because these two young talented and exceptionally gifted musicians are about to take you the world of Robert Schumman – where is inexpressively beautiful and inexhaustibly sublime.

Please give them another round of warm welcome and enjoy the concert. Thank you.