2025 Love in Music Annual Concert
3:00 pm, Saturday, May 31, 2025
Main Worship Hall, Thanksgiving Church
6959 Knott Ave, Buena Park, CA 90620
Concert Program
Concert Video
2025 Annual Concert
Love in Music, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity organization dedicated to providing free classical music education to underserved children, proudly presented its 2025 Annual Concert on Saturday, May 31 at 3:00 PM at Thanksgiving Church in Buena Park, California, after a joyful communal lunch hosted by Love in Music for all participants including its students, volunteers, and their families. This concert marked the 18th anniversary of Love in Music’s founding and over 160 volunteer instructors, support coordinators, and student musicians from its three service branches in Los Angeles, South Bay, and Santa Ana prepared for this concert together. Thanks to the donation of 30 drum practice pads and drum sticks by Go Event, a local company along with a financial donation of $1,156 raised from an event, our piano students were able to join the Finale performance with the percussion instruments sitting on the first step of the stage where normally string and wind teachers and students participated.
This year’s concert highlighted the collaborative efforts and artistic growth of students and volunteers through a variety of solo and ensemble performances instead of inviting outside professional musicians. In keeping with Love in Music’s mission, the stage belonged entirely to the Love in Music family this time.
🎵 Concert Highlights
The concert opened with a rousing performance of Pirates of the Caribbean (by Klaus Badelt, arr. Ted Ricketts), presented by the Love in Music Volunteer Ensemble under the direction of Music Director Kangwon Kim.
🎻 String Quartet
Four accomplished high school string volunteers from the Santa Ana Branch—Audrey Lee (Violin I), Sophia Kim (Violin II), Jayden Kim (Viola), and Jaxon Yoon (Cello)—performed Libertango by Astor Piazzolla. All members of the quartet have won top awards in prestigious music competitions across Southern California.
🎹 Piano Quintet
A five-member volunteer ensemble from the Santa Ana Branch will perform Por una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel, featuring piano, two violins, cello, and viola.
🎹 Piano Solo
Juhyeok Lim, an 11th-grade student at Torrance High School and longtime piano volunteer at the South Bay Branch, performed Piano Concerto No. 2, Movement I by Sergei Rachmaninoff. A standout musician, he earned 1st Prize at the MTAC Scholarship Competition (2023) and 1st Prize at the MTAC Piano Concerto Competition (2020). He has performed with orchestras in Italy and Orange County, volunteers with youth with developmental disabilities, and is currently working toward a private pilot’s license.
🎶 Finale Performance
The concert ended with a celebratory performance of the Love in Music Song Medley (arranged by Dr. Hojun Lee), featuring both students and teaching volunteers from all three branches. In this uplifting and unified finale, piano students accompanied the ensemble by performing rhythmic parts using drum pads and sticks, symbolizing intergenerational harmony and collective joy through music.
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