Classical treats fill the holiday season

The Universal Ballet will mount Mariinsky Ballet's version of "The Nutcracker" at Universal Arts Center in Seoul from Dec. 18 to 31. / Courtesy of Universal Ballet Company

By Kwon Ji-youn

Concertgoers are in for a classical treat this holiday season as local and visiting performing orchestra pull out all the stops to make for a merry end to the year.

Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Bremen German Chamber Philharmonic) will wrap up this year's long list of visiting ensembles with a Schumann-focused repertoire. The Estonian-born American conductor, known for his intensity on the podium, will be joined by Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook for the German composer's Symphony No. 4, after performing the Overture, Scherzo and Finale at the Seoul Arts Center (SAC), Dec. 16.

The SAC has also prepared a year-end Special Stage set to feature young musicians, prominent conductors and the nation's top orchestra.

The Little Singers of Paris / Courtesy of SPA Entertainment

On Sunday, violinist Lim Ji-young, the first Korean winner of the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition, will perform Brahms' Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) and Taiwanese conductor Lu Shao-chia. For more information, call (02) 580-1300.

The SPO will then perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Choral) with SPO music director Chung Myung-whun and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 22 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.

By then, the KBS Symphony will have already impressed the audience with the Ninth Symphony at the SAC. Yoel Levi is set to conduct and violinist Esther Yoo, soprano Kathleen Kim and tenor Nikolai Schukoff will accompany. For more information, call 1566-0155.

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Courtesy of Vincero

Christmas choirs

The year will close with a jingle as choirs sing adieu to 2015.

The Seoul Metropolitan Chorus has put together A Celebration of Christmas, for Thursday, with a program that spans carols through classics, and the Seoul Metropolitan Junior Chorus will stage a family musical, The Prince and Christmas, at the Sejong Center on Dec. 24 and 25.

The Little Singers of Paris (Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois) will visit Seoul for the holiday season. Beginning Sunday, the boys' choir will tour the city, performing at the Sejong Center, the Seongnam Arts Center and then the SAC. The choir, established in 1907, is comprised of boys aged eight through 15 and is world-renowned for its demanding repertoire of a cappella singing. They have visited every year since 1971. This year, 24 boys will sing Mozart's Lullaby, Nella Fantasia, Silent Night Holy Night and Jingle Bells. For more information, call (02) 597-9870.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve concerts will also feature the classics. On Dec. 30, brother-sister duo Akdong Musician will team up with pianist Kim Jeong-won and cellist Song Young-hoon for a concert themed Love, and on the final night of the year, singers Kim Gun-mo and Bada will join famed vocalist Jang Sa-ik and state-run performing groups for a concert on the joy, anger, sorrow and the pleasure of humanity. For more information, call (02) 399-1000.

The SAC has also put together a New Year's Eve concert.

On Dec. 31, the Korean Symphony Orchestra (KSO) will perform Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, Mahler's Symphony No. 5 Adagietto, Tchaikovsky's Polonaise from "Eugene Onegin" and Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1. Violinist Kim Bomsori will join it for Waxman's Carmen Fantasie, and flutist Jasmine Choi for Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen.

The Nutcracker is back

And, of course, the Nutcracker is back.

The nation's top ballet troupes are each staging original versions of the two-act ballet adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."

The Korea National Ballet (KNB) will perform Russian choreographer Yury Grigorovich's rendition of the Nutcracker from Dec. 18 to 27 at the SAC. This version was premiered by the Russian Bolshoi Ballet in 1966. The KSO will accompany the troupe, and James Tuggle of the Stuttgart Ballet will conduct. Lead roles will feature principal dancer Kim Ji-young with guest dancer Kim Hyun-woong and KNB principal dancer Lee Eun-won with Lee Jae-woo, among others. For more information, call (02) 587-6181.

The Universal Ballet Company will mount the Mariinsky Ballet's version of the holiday dance from Dec. 18 to 31. This version, choreographed by Vasili Vainonen, premiered here in 1986, and features a mid-performance magic show.

Principal dancers Hwang Hae-min, Ohm Jae-yong, Kang Mi-sun and Konstantin Novoselev will feature in lead roles. For more information, call (070) 7124-1737.

The Seoul Ballet Theater's (SBT) version of Tchaikovsky's ballet will bring modern and Korean traditional dance together to create a truly dynamic and jaunty Nutcracker. Choreographed by SBT artistic director James Jeon, the SBT's version, which premiered in 2007, will give the ballet a Korean spin, with dancers twirling sangmos, traditional hats with a ribbon, while beating the janggu drum. Performances will take place from Dec. 24 to 26. For more information, call (02) 3442-2637.

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