Guide to performance loved by CEOs

By Bahk Eun-ji

An orchestra and a business have many things in common. Harmony and cooperation are the most important factors for them to impress the audience and customers. Sections of an orchestra works like departments of a company.

The violin section, for example, is similar to the sales department that needs the most employees just as it requires the most players. It’s also interesting that the players of higher positions sit closer to the conductor.

“Only CEOs who are interested in art can enhance a company’s value because companies cannot move customers with simple marketing strategies nowadays, as they get more culturally advanced than ever before,” said Seo Hee-tae, a director and conductor of the Millennium Symphony Orchestra, in his book“Classical Music and Business”.

The second half of this year is for those who crave classical music. A number of symphony orchestras will perform at Seoul Arts Center and Sejong Center this fall.

Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica

Violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra will return to Korea following their last visit three years ago. Latvian violinist Kremer will perform with Kremerata Baltica, a chamber orchestra he founded 15 years ago. The orchestra consists of young and talented musicians from Baltic countries such as Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, where he came from. They reached world-class level soon after they were organized and has been acknowledged as being innovative and creative.

The orchestra toured about 600 cities around the world including Tokyo, Sidney and different states in the United States, South America and various European countries and performed more than 1,000 times for 13 years receiving prestigious international awards. The orchestra won a Grammy Award and ECHO Prize in 2002, and the Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists in 2009.

Kremer, born in Liga, a capital city of Latvia in 1947, has been called a reincarnation of Nicolo Paganini, one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of the 18th century. This is his 11th visit to Korea and he has always tried to put on a different performance each time.

Kremer played with Martha Argerich in 1994, attracting attention from the classical world and released an album “Hommage a Piazzolla.”

Likewise, his non-stereotypical musical path has covered major violin pieces from the classics to modern musicians in the 20th and 21st centuries such as Alban Berg, Karheinz Stockhausen and Alfred Shnitke.

“As a modern composer, I feel obliged to connect with current music. Therefore, my interest in contemporary music is inevitable,” says Kremer.

He also said that he wants to keep a balance between contemporary and classical music as well as renowned and unknown music.

Kremer and his chamber orchestra will hold a concert on October 16 at Seoul Arts Center.

Mariinsky Ballet and theater orchestra

The world’s leading Russian Mariinsky Ballet will perform Swan Lake at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul, featuring Korean dancer Kim Ki-min in the lead role.

Kim, a 19-year-old ballerina, was accepted by the Mariinsky Ballet for the first time as an Asian male dancer last year.

The Mariinsky was founded in the 18th century and is the parent company of the Vagnova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school. The company is especially known for their first attempt to make one ballerina play a double role as “Odette” (the white swan)” and “Odile” (the black swan)” in 1895.

The Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, led by Valery Gergiev, a world famous Russian maestro and opera company director, will accompany the performance.

The performance is at the Sejong Center between Nov.11 and 13.

Radu Lupu, the first recital and concert

Romanian pianist Radu Lupu will hold his first concert and recital in Seoul after calling off a tour to Korea in 2010 due to illness. His concert might be the most talked about event for those of who were disappointed with the cancellation back then.

Lupu is renowned for his reproduction and interpretation of Schubert’s music. He will play only Shubert’s 16 German Dances D. 783, OP.33, 4 Impromptus D.935, Op. Posth. 142 and Piano Sonata No.21 in B Major D 960, Op.posth at his recital, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor Op.37 and No.4 in G Major Op.58 at his concert.

He is also known for living in seclusion, and interviews or other event with the media in order to devote all his energy to his playing of the piano.

Lupu will hold his recital and concert on Nov. 17 and 19 at the Seoul Arts Center.