Tallaght University Hospital to host free lunchtime concerts
“MUSIC was always the thing I loved most,” explains clarinettist and community music practitioner Andrew Seohyeon Kim, performing in Tallaght University Hospital on August 20.
Born in South Korea, he went to Denmark because he wanted to study music, and Europe was where he wanted to do it.
Unfortunately, his time there was cut short: because of Covid he could not obtain his visa, and he had no choice but to return to Korea.
The wish to study in Europe stayed with him, though. He also wanted to step away from the intense competition and the pressures that come with the Korean system.
So in 2022, when his clarinet teacher Paul Roe invited him to come to Ireland, he was able to say yes immediately.
He has also always been drawn to Irish traditional music. The way Ireland has protected the value of its tradition while carrying it out into the wider world is a
“genuine model for me”
He continues, “It is exactly what I would like to see happen with Korean traditional music.”
Andrew came to Ireland in 2022 and has recently graduated from the TU Dublin Conservatoire.
In 2024 he founded ‘Classical Music for Everyone’, a community music initiative that brings live performance and accessible music education to people for whom the concert hall is out of reach.
This includes nursing homes, hospitals and rural communities.
The programme began from a simple conviction for Andrew: “Music stayed beside me when things were hard,” and it “should be available to people at exactly the moments they need it most.”
The project runs on two connected strands, Learning and Sharing, which work as a cycle rather than as separate stages.
Learning is about lowering the first step: ‘Getting to Know Classical Music’ is a free monthly talk, held in community centres, schools and other familiar local venues, with no prior knowledge required.
Alongside it, ‘Concert Guide & Companion’ takes people from the room into the concert hall, sharing information about genuinely accessible performances, and, when people want, going along with them.
Participants have been to National Symphony Orchestra Friday concerts, Irish National Opera productions and TU Dublin Philharmonic performances and, in summer, to festivals including the BBC Proms.
Sharing turns that engagement into something collective; ‘Letters Ensemble’, formed in January 2024, is a participatory ensemble of Dublin-based amateur musicians who rehearse every week.
‘Outreach Concerts’ then bring live music directly into nursing homes, hospitals, community centres and rural venues. Andrew and his team have delivered close to twenty of them so far.
He currently leads a weekly ensemble programme for older adults and has delivered close to twenty outreach concerts across Ireland.
In regard to his new collaboration with South Dublin Live, Andrew reflects that he wanted to give live music back to people who cannot easily leave the hospital – “not only patients, but staff, families and carers too”.
The result is ‘Shared Voices of South Dublin’, on Thursday, August 20: two free thirty-minute performances, one in the Atrium at 12:15 and one in the chapel at
1:30. Both are drop-in.
This will bring together Korean musicians working in classical music in Ireland, such as Hyelee Jung as a soprano; Dr Soo-Jung Ann on piano; and Andrew on clarinet together with Jaewon Kim on the haegeum (two-stringed Korean instrument played with a bow).
For Andrew, playing in the Atrium and Chapel for free and drop-in is a way of putting the music directly in their path rather than asking them to come and find it.
After this, a second ‘Shared Voices’ concert is planned for Saturday, August 29, for soprano, clarinet, and piano at Rua Red.
From September, when the summer break ends, Andrew will be working with a wider range of partners on a continuing series of outreach concerts in nursing homes, hospitals and other places where music is needed.
The weekly sessions with the older adults’ ensemble continue throughout the year, and Andrew is preparing to establish a second such ensemble on the same model.
He would like to thank the SDCC Arts Office, Sharon and Alison at Arts + Health, Tallaght University Hospital, his teacher Paul Roe, and his fellow musicians Hyelee Jung, Jaewon Kim and Dr Soo-Jung Ann.
Anyone who would like to follow the project, invite ‘Classical Music for Everyone’ to a venue, or get involved in any way is “very welcome” to be in touch.
Andrew can be contacted by email at sby05034@gmail.com or on Instagram at @sh.andrew_ryan, where he posts news of upcoming activity.
“Interest and support of every kind are always welcome” he concludes.
