More About the Piano Soloist for PSYO: Slavic Inspirations
Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) hosts a concerto competition each season, offering students a chance to win a solo performance opportunity in their Spring concerts. This competition serves as a powerful opening for students to experience performing as a soloist with orchestra accompaniment.
The winner set to perform with PSYO in their March 16th “Slavic Inspirations” program is pianist Jonathan Doh. This is Jonathan’s first year in PSYO, and he shared that this experience has taught him the importance of listening from a soloistic perspective and cooperating with his fellow musicians to incorporate the orchestra into the solo. He will be performing the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, op. 30.
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is considered one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard repertoire for classical pianists. Its first performance was Rachmaninoff himself, of course, with the New York Symphony Society under the direction of Walter Damrosch in 1909. The second performance of the piece was two months later, under the baton of Gustav Mahler. Rachmaninoff described his appreciation for Mahler’s perfect attention to each detail in the score. Rachmaninoff described a rehearsal that had run much longer than planned – he said:
“When Mahler announced that the first movement would be rehearsed again, I expected some protest or scene from the musicians, but I did not notice a single sign of annoyance. The orchestra played the first movement with a keen or perhaps even closer appreciation than the previous time.”
The concerto is structurally complex and features advanced polyrhythms and a melodic density that challenges the soloist to reach past technique and virtuosity and truly commit to the resonance and musicality of the piece. Many pianists and audience members alike have hailed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 as the pinnacle of his career as a composer. In comparison to his other piano concertos, Rachmaninoff considered the Third to be his favorite.
More about Jonathan Doh
16-year-old pianist, Jonathan Jihan Doh is in 11th grade, currently attending Pacific Academy in Irvine. He began his music journey in piano with his mother at the age of six and currently studies under the instruction of Mr. Rufus Choi. Jonathan has won various international and national competitions which includes being selected as the youngest finalists in the 2020 Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany, 1st prize at the MTAC State Solo Competition, 2nd prize at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, 2nd prize at the
Arizona Piano Institution Solo Competition, 1st prize of CAPMT OC & JCM Young Musicians Concerto Competition performing with the Orchestra Collective of OC in 2022, 1st prize at the 2022 & 2024 MTAC State Concerto Competition. He was a finalist in the 2023 Redlands Bowl Young Artists Concerto Competition, performing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the Festival Orchestra. He was also accepted into the Morningside Music Bridge (MMB) international scholarship program at the New England Conservatory in the summer of 2024, where he performed in the highlight concert at Jordan Hall. He has had the opportunity to participate in masterclasses and lessons with distinguished artists including Piotr Paleczny, Arie Vardi, Dang Thai Son, Szymon Nehring, Haesun Paik, and Xiaohan Wang. Jonathan was featured on the cover of the Fall 2024 MTAC Magazine and is a recipient of the 2024 and 2025 Chopin Foundation of the United States Scholarship. He was named a 2025 National YoungArts Award Winner and is a semifinalist in The Music Center’s Spotlight program. In addition to his solo work, he enjoys chamber music and regularly performs for his local senior center.
See PSYO and Jonathan Doh perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on March 16th. Learn more.