By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Shin Soo-jung, dean of Seoul National University's College of Music, is scheduled to retire Aug. 31. The following day, Sept. 1, she will hold a concert looking back on her 38 years spent with music and education, in a Seoul Art Center's concert series titled ``My Life, My Music.''
The 65-year-old reputed pianist has many firsts to her credit. She won the first Dong-a Music Competition in 1961. After graduating with honors from Seoul National University and the Vienna Academy of Music, she became the youngest professor ever at her alma mater in 1969, at the age of 26. In 2005, she became the first woman to serve as the dean of the university's college of music. She was also the first Korean to serve on the jury of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
Shin will start the program with ``Turkish Rondo,'' or Mozart's ``Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major,'' which was her first piece performed in public at the age of seven in her hometown in North Chungcheong Province. She will also play with her lifelong musical friends, pianists Lee Kyung-sook and Kim Young-ho, on Mozart's "Sonata for Keyboard Four-hands'' in C major and D major.
The repertoire also includes ``Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E-flat major'' by Chopin, whose broach she wears every day to keep the beloved composer near her heart.
Her second concert in the series ``My Life, My Music'' is scheduled for Oct. 20, where she will perform scores by Beethoven.
Shin plans to minimize the distance between the stage and audiences at her upcoming concerts to be held in the 350-seat recital hall in the center. For her fans, it will be a good opportunity to enjoy her music in an intimate atmosphere, as she shares her life episodes with the audience during the concerts.
Tickets cost from 20,000 won to 40,000 won. For more information, call (02) 580-1300 or visit www.sac.or.kr.