Timothy Chooi: “Brahms Challenges Me the Most Emotionally”

What is the most “Verbier” moment of the day?

For me, the most “Verbier” moment of the day is when the sun sets. That’s when all these amazing concerts begin, and everyone becomes more relaxed — the artists included. You start seeing them in coffee shops, at the pub, at other concerts, and simply out in the streets. For me, that is the most “Verbier” moment: seeing all these great musicians gathered in this tiny little town called Verbier.

Which composer challenges you the most emotionally?

Honestly, all of them do. But if I had to be very specific, I would say anything and everything by Brahms. I love Brahms, so I don’t mean that in a negative way, but his music always feels so intimate in the way I have to interpret it. To be in an extroverted setting, where you have to perform for people — sometimes for a large audience — with such intimate music, feels like a strange oxymoron to me.

What is your philosophy on encore selections?

I think they should be whatever is meaningful to the performer. Whether that is something highly sophisticated, such as another movement from a Brahms sonata or a piece by Beethoven, or simply a party piece — whatever it may be — I personally believe that an encore should, at its core, reflect the artist.

Has social media changed how you connect with your audience?

Oh, absolutely. Social media has changed my connection with my audience because I now have direct access to share my art and my music on platforms that audiences and the public can access directly. For me, that has completely changed the way I think about communicating with my public.

The entire world is at my fingertips.

What non-musical experiences have profoundly inspired your music?

Teaching has profoundly changed my entire philosophy of music-making, of being an artist, and of being a musician. It has done so in very abstract ways, but also in very practical ones. When you teach, you realize that we all come from different backgrounds. As we go deeper and deeper into music-making, we develop a more sophisticated understanding of things, but not everyone is at that level, and it would be foolish to imagine that they are.

At the same time, for myself, I sometimes need to step back and remind myself: wait, I need to do the basic things first, and then let everything grow from there.

So teaching — whether that means teaching the violin, teaching others how to work in this industry, or simply bringing a group of people together in one room — has been one of the biggest changes in my life, and it has deeply affected my musicality as well.