Feenstra required a personal visit. “I remember the day Jenny came to
pick me up, and there, in the front seat of her car, was this gorgeous
cherry pie,” Zack explained. “When we arrived, we presented him with
The An Sisters
Born to Play Music
The An sisters, Sejung, Serim and Sein.
Photography by Allison Breiner Potter.
46
WBM september 2010
the cherry pie, talked to him for a while and walked
away with the music. I think he just needed
to know we were serious, and that the music
would be put to good use.”
In the fall of 1971, the first organiza-tional
meeting was held in the band room at
Keenan Hall. “We at least had some music to
put in front of the 30-40 people who showed
up that night,” Zack says, “although it wasn’t
a lot of music, and we didn’t have complete
sets.” The group continued to practice at
Kenan for many years, then moved to the new
Cultural Arts Building soon after it opened in
the fall of 2006.
“We gave two concerts our first year, and then
two or three a year for the next several years,”
Zack says. “We got better and better and began to
attract better musicians.” Today, Zach still plays
second violin — a choice that was made for her
at the very beginning when she and Kusler flipped
a coin to see who would play first violin and who
would play second. “I’ve developed a real taste for
second violin,” says Zack. “I absolutely love it.”
Zack’s commitment to the orchestra for all these
years mirrors the commitment of the entire group. In
39 years with the orchestra, Zach has only missed two
concerts — one when her father died, and a recent
one because she had shoulder surgery. “My husband
and kids were always very tolerant because they knew
how much the orchestra meant to me,” says Zach.
“I think our very first concert was on my daughter’s
eighth birthday. I felt guilty about it, but she was so sweet, and she was
fine with it.”
Today’s Modern Orchestra
The orchestra continued under the direction of Mr. Adcock until
he became ill in 1981, and Dr. Joe Hickman was appointed
assistant conductor. The following year, Hickman took over
full time and served as conductor for the next five years. In 1986, Steve
Errante joined the staff at UNCW as both a teacher and the new con-ductor
of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.
Errante says that over the 22 years he has been the conductor, the
orchestra has significantly raised its performance standards. “When it
started, it was really a volunteer orchestra and existed for the pleasure of
the people playing,” Errante says. “In the beginning, we gave concerts,
and if people came that was good, if not, oh well. Now, we’re a lot more
focused on our relationship with the audience, and our concerts are for
the pleasure of the audience as much as the players.”
Errante stresses that his goal is to make orchestra music a thrilling
experience for everyone. “If we can take a terrific composer and bring
his music to life so that everyone in the audience experiences and feels it,
we’ve done our job.”
The WSO has been performing a five-year Beethoven cycle, begin-
Perhaps they were born to
it, or perhaps they owe it to their
mother, who began their training
early in life, or perhaps it was due
to the professionals under whom
they’ve been privileged to study.
Most likely, it’s all of the above.
But whatever the genesis behind
musical prodigies, the An sisters fit
the profile.
All three have won local and
regional music contests in the past
year. Sein, age 12, began playing
the violin when she was three.
She was the 2009 Junior Division
Winner of the NC Symphony
Youth Concerto Competition.
She was also a featured soloist
with the Wilmington Symphony
Orchestra in their 2009 Winter
Holiday Concert. Before coming
to the US, Sein also won a num-ber
of nationwide competitions
in Korea.
Sejung, 11, who began play-ing
cello at age seven, was the
2009 Junior Division Winner
in the Wilmington Symphony
Concerto Competition. She
was featured as a soloist with
the Wilmington Symphony
Youth Orchestra in April
2010.
Serim, age 16, began
piano at age five. She won an
Honorable Mention in the North
Carolina Symphony Youth
Concerto. All three girls perform
at local retirement and nurs-ing
homes, churches and for the
Wilmington Music Club.
Beverly Andrews, concertmas-ter
for the Wilmington Symphony
Orchestra and one of Sein’s teach-ers,
says that although the girls
were naturally predisposed to
be good musicians, that’s never
enough. “There also has to be hard
work,” says Andrews. “Hye-Weon,
the girls’ mother, who is an accom-plished
pianist herself, recognized
that each child had a good musi-cal
ear and sense of rhythm and
started them playing early. She was
willing to spend time with them
and give them good instruction.
When you have talent and you mix
it with perseverance, you get good
results.”
The An family moved to the
United States from South Korea in
December 2008 to give their three
daughters more options than the
Korean educational system pro-vided.
“In America,
they can study both academics
and music together and eventually
choose their own futures,” says Ki-
Ho, the girls’ father.
Although music makes up a
huge portion of their lives, the An
girls enjoy a wide variety of other
interests. Last year, Serim partici-pated
on her high school Science
Olympiad team. She excels aca-demically,
with a 4.0 grade point
average. She likes listening to jazz
and going to movies with her
friends. Her future dream? “I’d like
to get into Julliard,” says Serim. “I
know it will be really tough, but I
hope to audition next year.”
Sejung likes art and math and
enjoys composing music, while
Sein enjoys swimming, math and
playing in the school orchestra.
Sein says her dream is to attend
the Curtis Institute of Music in
Philadelphia.
Whatever the future holds for
the An sisters, their talent, com-bined
with their determination and
hard work, will pave the way for
their success.