Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is one of the most famous classical concert pieces to come out of China – a perfect blend of both eastern and western music. You can hear it performed at a Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra concert this week to celebrate the year of the fire horse for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra principal oboist Gustav Highstein plays Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 on Sunday. During a busy week of rehearsals, Highstein visited Classical Pacific to reflect on past teachers, the value of mentorship, and bringing music to life with friends.