Avor

“Savor Your Senses” (Savor) began as a natural attempt to make guests comfortable, to help them connect with music and to help them connect with each other.

It started in August of 2009, while Elaine was performing for friends at home. In preparation for an upcoming Carnegie Hall concert, Elaine and her husband, Kevin, had groups of friends over to hear her play through pieces and have some wine and cheese. Between selections, people naturally asked questions about the music, its history, etc. Meanwhile, Kevin would re-fill glasses, take wine requests, and make recommendations. The combination of guests talking about how the music made them feel and deciding what wine to drink eventually led to Kevin offering thoughts on what wine would “match” the piece that would be heard next: a “bubbly” Chopin Etude inspired a pairing with a Prosecco; a “softer, sentimental” movement from a Rubinstein concerto seemed to go well with a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo…

Purposefully matching music and wine together made it more fun and interesting; it was more of a conversation than a performance. Guests got to know the music by asking questions of Elaine, they opened up with their own opinions about the wines and cheeses, and everyone got involved since it was all about what they liked. By the end of the night, after five or six piano/wine pairings, suddenly everyone was a genius!

In April of 2010, after encouragement from friends to take the show on the road, the first Savor Your Senses (Savor) concert took place in a NYC piano showroom. A sommelier led folks through some wine selections paired with the piano pieces, and people did what comes naturally – they enjoyed music and wine. Savor Your Senses was born.

Now Savor continues to evolve organically as a great way to bring live music and other art forms to new audiences through quality pairings. Meanwhile, everyone has a great time, since it gives them something fun and interactive to do while getting to know other people.

Pianist Elaine Kwon has performed solo, concerto, and chamber music concerts throughout the US and internationally. As soloist, she received standing ovations at her 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 Carnegie Hall concerts in Weill Hall and Zankel Hall, as well as in her solo concerto performances with the Slovak Sinfonietta, Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony, Union Symphony and the New York Chamber Virtuosi. As chamber musician, she toured regularly for 10 years as part of the Hebert/Kwon piano duo, and performed extensively as a member of Forecast New Music Group, Light and Sound Water Trio, Sapphire Ensemble and OCTET. Her recording of the Rubinstein Piano Concerto no. 4 with the Slovak Sinfonietta was released on Artist’s Choice Recordings in December 2011.

Elaine holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and is a Lecturer/Affiliated Artist in the Music Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she teaches music theory and piano lab. She is co-founder and President of the music and wine pairing concert series, Savor Your Senses. An avid martial artist, Elaine has a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do (5-time US National Form Champion) and currently studies Shaolin Kung Fu. She represented Nike in Asian ad campaigns, and has appeared in numerous magazines, ads and videos. She has been a featured guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, was honored as a Power Woman of New York and was the subject of a documentary for the Arirang TV series, “Dream It”, which was broadcast internationally to 89 million households. Elaine lives in New York City, where she continues to find ways to combine and communicate her passion for music, martial arts, food/wine, and optimal living.