Seungjin Cho's Performance at Taper Auditorium in Benaroya Hall (Seattle Symphony)

One of my dreams has been to watch Seungjin Cho, the renowned Chopin Competition Winner from Korea, perform live one day. I knew he toured worldwide and I knew his tickets tend to sell out immediately in South Korea. Now surely he might stop by Seattle one day?

That dream of mine has come true sooner than I had ever thought. I stumbled upon on Internet ad by Seattle Symphony about the upcoming performance by Cho. I couldn't believe it. There were still prime seats left. This was back in September and the performance was in January 2023. I quickly calculated my pregnancy. I would be 26 weeks pregnant, no problem!

Since I've never really been to Benaroya Hall, let alone to a classical music concert, I wasn't sure which seat to reserve. I ended up sitting quite near the stage somewhere in the middle, about 10 rows from the pianist. Now that I have been to the hall, I can say this with a confidence that the best seat would be the ones closer to the stage and slightly off center. In fact, slightly towards the left as we face the stage would be the best because it allows you to see the pianist's hands while still being able to see his facial expression. My seat wasn't that bad either, and even though I couldn't really see his hands, I was able to see his face and his posture as he played on.

Never have I been so mesmerized by a piano concert. The person next to me said she couldn't even breathe and that's how I felt exactly! I wasn't the pianist, but after watching Cho perform for two hours, I felt both drained and full of energy at the same time. The immense amount of concentration Cho has shown was incredible.

He played Chopin's Polonaise as an encore, and it's one of his most well known repertoire. Now my dream is to watch him play again, and hopefully one day listen to his Liebestraum (The Dream of Love by Franz Liszt) live. I don't know in which city, but that day will come.