Chamber Music for Summer
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
If you are looking for ways to get acquainted with classical music _ starting with the nimble and accessible chamber music sound than with somewhat overwhelming big-scale orchestra _ upcoming summer nights in Seoul offer you some perfect chances.
On Aug.9, the 2007 Seoul Music Festival and Academy (SMF&A) brings the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a New York-based group consisting of 15 young top-class Korean, American and Canadian musicians, for the first time to South Korea. They will perform at the concert hall of the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul.
The conductor-less chamber orchestra is known for performing lively and joyous renditions. Their repertoire in this Seoul concert includes Benjamin Britten's ``Simple Symphony'' and Tchaikovsky's ``Serenade for Strings.'' For Haydn's ``Keyboard Concerto in D,'' Korean-American pianist Ben Kim will perform with ECCO. The 24-year-old rising young lion of the classical music industry has secured quite a fan base in Seoul as well, after a solo recital held here last year.
Tickets for the concert costs from 20,000 won to 50,000 won. For more information, visit www.smf-a.com.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Arts Center has also prepared its own programs for the annual ``Summer Chamber Music'' at its concert hall. On Aug. 10-17, eight groups are set to present a variety of repertoires from Baroque to Romantic to contemporary music.
For example, the weeklong feast of chamber music will open with Korea & Japan Woodwind Ensemble's trio and quintet numbers by Beethoven and Reinecke. The ensemble is comprised of players of woodwind instruments such as the Bassoon, Oboe and Horn from South Korea and Japan.
The fest will also offer audiences a chance to listen to the sound of rare antique musical instruments. Camerata Antiqua Seoul, a group specializing in Baroque music, has been met with critical acclaim when it performed for Baroque operas such as ``Dido and Aeneas'' and ``Rinaldo,'' staged in Seoul earlier this year. The team will perform Bach's ``Cembalo concerto in D major'' as well as Georg Telemann's ``Suite in D Major for viola da gamba and strings.''
For those interested in jazz and tango, mixing in with classical music, Aug. 15 program is the choice, as Seoul Saxophone Quartet will play numbers composed by Shostakovich, Astor Piazzola and Johnny Mandel.
Hong Seung-chan, a music critic and professor of the Korean National University of Arts will make the concerts more accessible by giving commentaries each evening.
Tickets are also priced at accessible prices from 10,000 won to 20,000 won. For more information on program schedule, visit www.sac.or.kr.