A Chopin pianist who wears even less

A Chopin pianist who wears even less

News

norman lebrecht

May 20, 2022

Meet the Korean underwear model Leehaein Leezy. She also plays.

Comments

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    It’s women like this that embarrass the rest of us.

    • Maria says:

      Exactly! More about her showing herself off than getting on with playing Chopin to her best ability, and putting him centre stage, not her with her thighs and boobs. A total embarassment.

      • Brian Stack says:

        need a piano star like her to play lingerie in black all lingerie.

      • Brian Stack says:

        i listened not alot to chopin yet im a pop musician in alexandria virginia, i know i love classical songs, from him. stay in touch ill let you know how much ill pay i only need 30 minutes, whats your amount, thanks.

    • N/A says:

      It’s ok if you’re jealous Elizabeth. After all, she is stunning.

  • Stop the Insanity says:

    Well, honey, keep your day-job – and get that lead foot off the pedal.

  • Concertgebouw79 says:

    In Korea you have also Chung Myung-whun, Seong-Jin Cho and Yeol Eum Son playing piano and they do it better.

  • chet says:

    She’s not a good lingerie model and she’s not a good pianist, putting them together doesn’t make her better at either.

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    Messy pedalling but otherwise pretty OK. What? Eh? Oh.

  • Adam Stern says:

    She should’ve played his Bra-carole in F# Major.

  • Adam Stern says:

    She should’ve played his Bra-carolle in F# Major.

  • Adam Stern says:

    NOT FOR PUBLICATION
    Please use second submitted version — spellcheck miscorrected the spelling of “barcarolle” in the first one.

  • Mark Cogley says:

    Obviously a very talented model. Doesn’t seem like an actual pianist, reading an easy piece from the score.

  • Terence says:

    Yes, you can find better pianists but it would be a better world if everyone played a musical instrument as well as Lee Ha-ein.

    I’ve never been able to find a % for the number of adults who play (it’s hard to define). But I would guess it’s well under 1%.

  • Benjamin Pratley says:

    Sorry, Norman, but you forgot the “S” at the beginning of her last name.

  • Backrow Curmudgeon says:

    And this is newsworthy how?

  • Adam Stern says:

    NOT FOR PUBLICATION
    That is, I meant to say “Bra-carolle”, with hyphen and two l’s.

  • just saying says:

    These posts are kinda embarrassing…then again, I clicked on it…lol

  • Ben G. says:

    We’ve come a long way since Arthur Rubinstein.

    • Pianofortissimo says:

      I’m sure Rubinstein would have approved the pianist. Not sure about her playing. 🙂

  • christopher storey says:

    Is it my imagination or does she hold the sustaining pedal down throughout the entire piece ?

  • Younger says:

    Aaah, the joys of the internet for old people…just wait till Norman discovers nude modelling!!

  • Ellie says:

    Norman, why is this news? Have you not learnt anything from the comments on previous misogynistic articles? I’m sure you can find better ways to spend your time than objectifying more women…

    • guest says:

      To judge by the video she is objectifying herself, and enjoying it. I agree this isn’t newsworthy. Surely she could have played the piano clad in more than flimsy underwear, and not concluded the exhibition by sitting on the bed, pillow between her legs? I was surprised she is a model, I was expecting a different ‘industry’.

      Have you noticed the number of views and comments on that video? Do you believe they are there for the music? The video was uploaded just three months ago. If all those visitors are there for the music, how come most of Anton Rubinstein’s videos have, best case, just 2-8% clicks of this video, despite being uploaded years ago? Just a handful Rubinstein videos is in the category of this video (click-wise, I’m not speaking about musical rendition.)

      • Robert Hairgrove says:

        If you can post a link to any Anton Rubinstein videos, that would be quite a sensation (even in his underwear…) 🙂

        • guest says:

          Far from me to begrudge you a witticism. I am sure you, as everybody else who hasn’t lived under a rock for the last ten years or so, are aware that Youtube doesn’t allow for audio uploads, everything has to be converted to video format. To judge from the uploads, folks who want to upload just sound take the audio track, paper it with photos or anything visual from makes-sense to inane, and upload the result as video.

          • Robert Hairgrove says:

            +1

            Up to now, I thought that no audio recordings of Anton Rubinstein must exist … but thanks to you, I see that some wax cylinder recordings have indeed been transferred and can be heard on YouTube.

            Of course, your point about YT and no audio-only recordings is well taken. But I thought you must have been referring to “Arthur” Rubinstein. My bad!

            Once again, I have learnt something new by hanging out here.

  • frederick paul walter says:

    Among many others, she also does an impressive C minor nocturne.

    • Robert Hairgrove says:

      Do you mean the one with the two augmented and inverted fermatas at the end? ( ) 🙂

  • Peter says:

    That is Chopin that is not Leezy to listen to.

  • John Kelly says:

    Just when you think you’ve seen everything….

  • May says:

    The only thing missing is an abbreviated middle name that starts with the letter S ….

  • Fred Funk says:

    A swimsuit calendar of viola players will be next…… Geezus.

  • Gerry Feinsteen says:

    The hottest pianists are usually grey-haired, moderately overweight (or strikingly healthy), and perform on acoustic pianos.

  • Jennifer Hillman says:

    I’d be so much happier if this sort of posting could slip out of slipped disc. What do we learn from it? How important is it to the musical world?

    • guest says:

      Perhaps we learn that the (classical) music world is increasingly less preoccupied with music? That ‘musicians’ aren’t the sainted beings living just off their music and tap water, the image they used to present to the world? If only half of the SD commenters claiming to be musicians are indeed musicians, the musical world isn’t anything to be proud of, the only thing that sticks out is their entitlement and regular cries for special treatment. Women players increasingly consider a boob job to be part of the must-have ‘equipment’, alongside revealing clothes.

      That being said, I too could do with less of this type of post on SD, but there’s no denying that the classical music world is trying to attract attention with everything and the kitchen sink, and soon it will be just the kitchen sink.

  • Springbeg says:

    Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

  • Bone says:

    I watched it three times and never saw a piano.

  • Tony says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_ny89NdE4

    Better dressed, and a few wrong notes unfortunately

  • Kevin says:

    OK, not the most difficult Chopin, and I agree that the pedalling was a bit heavy-footed, but I did find her playing clean and musically sensitive. She presented a piece that she had full command of, rather than trying and failing at the gymnastics of virtuosity; and in order to do so, she had to put in the work hours. Though she’s certainly very pretty, I actually find all the cheesecake stuff rather irritating. But in fairness, if she’s trying to demonstrate that there’s more to her than glamour, I think she has succeeded.

    • guest says:

      Do you think she’s got 1,4 million clicks and 800 comments on a video uploaded three months ago because she has succeeded in demonstrating that there’s more to her than glamour (read boob job)? If so think again. How many people would have visited her video, had she played the instrument clad in normal clothes, or uploaded just the audio with the title of the piece and nothing else, no film, no pictures of herself? Let’s not leave common sense at the door when entering the internet to type a comment, Kevin.

      • Kevin says:

        You’re putting far more into my words than I wrote. I have no interest in her clicks and likes, and didn’t even look at them. As a pianist myself, I was commenting only on the performance, which shows that she can play sensitively. That’s worth something. She’s no concert virtuoso, but music will still be there when her looks fade, as inevitably they will. It’s not common sense I left at the door: it’s cynicism.

        • guest says:

          I am sure you don’t have any interest in clicks and likes (which I didn’t mention BTW, I mentioned comments.) Nor have I, but I am more attentive than you, and have less illusions where classical music is heading to. In my opinion, my lack of illusions isn’t cynicism, it’s just reading the writing on the wall; I don’t need reading glasses. I doubt the music will still be there when her looks fade. It will still be there if she sticks to making music, but will she? To judge from the video, she has opted for a different profession. Even if she got a call from an agent after her video exhibition, let’s not fool ourselves _why_ she got it – it’s because the agent hopes a part of the online clicks will translate into folks buying concert tickets, folks who don’t understand anything about classical music, but appreciate a boob job and bare legs. You may call this cynicism too, I call it the reality of our days.

          • Kevin says:

            So let me get this straight. I’m being dissed for not sneering at this young woman. Or is it that she dares to be able to play the piano?
            My comment applied to the performance, and only that. I’m not factoring in her modelling aspirations or YouTube ratings because to me they’re irrelevant. I stand by my exceedingly simple point, which is that I liked her music and don’t care about her career moves. OK?

          • guest says:

            Perfectly OK, dear Kevin, to care only about what matters to you, but why do you flip out when other people mention more than her playing? I too would have cared just about her playing, had she had uploaded just the sound track of her playing with the title of the piece, so the video picture won’t be completely empty. Are all the people here and on Youtube to be condemned because they have noticed the ‘packaging’ surrounding the playing? People are not blind, particularly when the packaging is shoved into your eyes. To you, she has demonstrated that there’s more to her than glamour. She hasn’t so others. Peace and farewell.

          • Kevin says:

            You really REALLY don’t like it when people have different opinions from yours, do you?

          • guest says:

            Dear Kevin, you should have a look in the mirror at yourself. I said ‘peace and farewell.’ Do you need translation from English to English? I bowed out. I had no intention of coming back. The one who doesn’t like other people to have different opinions, the one who came back is you. I felt this is reason enough to come back myself a last time, to point out the incongruity between your words and your behavior to you. You have my blessings to continue here but you won’t see me coming back.

  • Old Man in the Midwest says:

    I want to be in a trio with this talented young lady and Yuja.

    Can anyone on this board arrange that?

  • M McGrath says:

    I’d say she’s a bit enhanced. Still. Nice. The young lady certainly does challenge the existing order in prim Anglo-American propriety!
    This theatre of the absurd nicely matches the Singaporean maestro (you reported earlier) saluting his band (as a conducting gesture) during a Tchaikovsky symphony. Maybe we need to be open to new ways of engaging with paying customers of classical music performance? After all, the halls, we hear are not full. Perhaps this talent and her Chopin should accompany a lingerie show at the fabulous Hyundai Department Store at COEX in Seoul? Followed by lunch at the neighboring Intercontinental? I can see this being a big hit. Then successfull touring Selfridge’s in London, KaDeWe in Berlin, Galleries Lafayette in Paris (Opera), …

  • N/A says:

    BREAKING NEWS: woman also has other interests and other jobs outside of being a pianist. Shocking! Give it a rest.

  • N/A says:

    Norman I recall just last week that you were encouraging people in the comments section to stop being so hostile towards classical musicians. Yet here you are, enabling it once again, not doing anything to stop it.

    Hypocritical much?

  • Peter says:

    A bit sad really. Maybe thats the sort of thing you have to do to get noticed in Korea these days. I suspect the target audience is a younger market, and more to do with modelling than music.
    But the grumpies at slippedisc are getting hot under the collar, and she has to suffer their less-than-funny comments swirling around the internet.

    • N/A says:

      Nothing sad about celebrating your body Peter. A woman can do whatever she likes with her body. Take it or leave it

      • guest says:

        You are too fond of binary thinking, N/A. In this time and age, there are many more options for the audience than take it or leave it. Interesting enough, the take it or leave it still applies to the performer. For the performer, it’s take or leave the audience’s reaction/opinion. And their money, if the performer is in the fortunate position to demand money for his or her offering.

        Perhaps there isn’t anything _sad_ about celebrating your body, but the body is nevertheless a vehicle of personal intimacy for modern man. If said celebration is taking place in public, read for the mob, it is sometimes called exhibitionism – it depends on the type of celebration. You may not like this but it doesn’t make it less true.

      • Peter says:

        There are a lot of websites dedicated to helping “women celebrate their bodies”. Mostly frequented by men.

        No doubt there are many beautiful women, and those that wish to celebrate their bodies publically should be free to do so. Of course. But is it really necessary for Slippedisc to feature this area quite so much ?

  • Robert says:

    She is beautiful, creative and smiling all the way to the bank.

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