Jimin Oh-Havenith - J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (2020)

"In the first thirty years of my career, I never wanted to play the Goldberg Variations. I had a strong relationship to Bach - singing mathematics - but did not feel any desire to contribute a further interpretation of this well-beloved work. This changed only when I decided to support the musical education in my son's school. The aria from the Goldberg Variations was one of the first subjects, and the more I dedicated myself to the aria, the more I felt: this piece is a gold mine of vitality. This recording is the end point of a ten-year-long, personal healing process. For me, this is a reason for great joy - and a moment of hope, the hope that this music brings the listeners as much healing and comprehension as it gave me." (Jimin Oh-Havenith)

Jimin Oh-Havenith's piano playing is characterized by an exceptional sonority and faithful-ness to the text. Her warm sound, which is always embedded within the rhythmic structure, lets the music come alive in all its richness. The synchronicity of sound and rhythm, not arbitrary changes in tempo and dynamics, inform the clarity of her interpretation, as in, for example, her recording of Beethoven's op. 111, his last sonata. Jimin Oh-Havenith was born in Seoul, South Korea. In 1979 she began piano studies with Jin-Woo Chung at the Seoul National University. From 1981 to 1984 she continued her studies with Aloys Kontarsky at the Cologne College of Music. In addition to her concert activities as a soloist and radio and recordings, she also performed in a piano duo with her late husband Raymund Havenith (†1993). Jimin Oh-Havenith taught at the Mainz College of Music and at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main. Since 2013 she has again been active as a soloist.