Korean Chamber Orchestra opens new era

Members of the Korean Chamber Orchestra / Courtesy of the Korean Chamber Orchestra

American actor and director John Malkovich will narrate to Alfred Schnittke’s relatively unknown “Concerto for Piano and Strings” at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the London SouthBank Center on Feb. 23. / Courtesy of the Korean Chamber Orchestra

By Kwon Ji-youn

The Korean Chamber Orchestra (KCO) has declared the beginning of a new era for the 50-year-old ensemble.

Formerly known in Korean as the Seoul Baroque Orchestra (Ensemble), the KCO has decided to use its English label both on and off the international stage beginning 2015, and after a year of promotion, its former name will go into the books.

Further changes are expected to allow the KCO a more varied repertoire, ranging from baroque to contemporary, as it shifts its strings-oriented focus onto the winds.

Like renowned chamber orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the KCO will recruit more brass and wind instrumentalists, as well as invite prominent guest conductors from Europe. These guest conductors will in turn take the orchestra’s helm beginning 2016.

The KCO, now 50 years old, said that such changes have been implemented to help the orchestra meet international standards, and that the transition will ready the KCO for a more global audience.

“I have spent the last 50 years working for the development of Korean classical music,” said music director and violinist Kim Min. “As leader of the KCO, I have progressively interacted with foreign artists so as to learn and approach their standards. We have been invited to a number of music festivals as guests, and now we will perform at the world’s top five orchestral venues.”

“This is all possible because our orchestra members love what they do, and have done their best at all times,” he continued. “The next 50 years for the KCO will continue to be about effort, and about loving music. I myself will work to recreate a young orchestra, one that will continue to thrive on global stages.”

The KCO was founded in 1965 by the late cellist Jeon Bong-cho, and has since made a name for itself as the country’s top chamber orchestra. Since Kim was named director, the KCO has performed on numerous international tours, and has given over 561 concerts in some 23 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy and Russia. It has released 16 albums so far.

The KCO will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a special concert series that will feature esteemed soloists.

The series will include a tour of the world’s top five orchestral venues, such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the London SouthBank Center, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Moscow Conservatory Great Hall and the Isaac Stern Carnegie Hall in New York; a string of concerts featuring four different interpretations of Franz Shubert’s “Symphony No. 5” by four different conductors; and an annual concert celebrating the KCO’s 50th anniversary, at which a narrated version of Alfred Schnittke’s relatively unknown “Concerto for Piano and Strings” will be performed.

In December, the KCO released a 50th anniversary album including music by Shubert, Astor Piazzolla and Felix Mendelssohn. It features performances by Korean violinist Yoon So-young and Russian pianist Ksenia Kogan under Kim’s direction. The album was issued in Europe and around the world.

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