Episode 68 Scott Yoo

After watching the program “Now Hear This,” the PBS television series, I was so impressed by the host and executive producer, Scott Yoo, that I invited him to be a guest on my podcast. And what a pleasure to converse with him about his multi-faceted career.

Scott was born in Tokyo and grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford, where his parents encouraged his study of the violin at age three, for which he showed great promise. His father was from Korea and his mother from Japan, and though their vocations were in the insurance business, they were music lovers who nurtured their son’s talent. Indeed, he recalls the thrill of winning a solo prize at age 12 to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mendelson’s Violin Concerto in E minor, an event he’ll never forget.

But alas, his pursuit of a career as a violinist was put on hold when he broke his left index finger in a freak accident. While he decided to study physics at Harvard University, he embarked on conducting a student orchestra there, which launched his conducting career. In 1997 he won the position of assistant conductor at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where under the direction of Andrew Litton he learned the intricacies of working with an orchestra. Since 2016 he has been music director of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra.

In this fascinating discussion, we delved into numerous topics, including the thrill of playing a Stradivarius violin, and the complexity of its history and identity; Scott’s gratitude for his extraordinary mentors, such as Roman Totenburg and Michael Gilbert; and his excitement with what he calls a Renaissance we’re in today as access to great music through modern technology is unprecedented.