Lim: 'These will be concerts of a life time'

The Korean Symphony Orchestra and a chorus of 1,000 led by Conductor Lim Hun-jeong rehearse Wednesday, at the Lotte Concert Hall in eastern Seoul, ahead of the "Symphony of a Thousand" concerts scheduled for Aug. 25 and 27. / Yonhap

By Yun Suh-young

Conductor Lim Hun-jeong who is a Mahler specialist and composer said the "Symphony of a Thousand" concerts which will be held today and Saturday will be his "concerts of a life time."

"I've never seen a concert performed with a thousand people before. I heard it was the first time being performed in Korea and the world. This will be the one and only concert of our life time," he said during a rehearsal of the concert before the press Wednesday at the newly opened Lotte Concert Hall in Jamsil, eastern Seoul.

On Aug. 25 and 27, Lim will lead the Korean Symphony Orchestra and a chorus of 1,000 to reenact Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 also known as the "Symphony of a Thousand." The song was given the name because in the very first performance in 1910, 1,000 people performed the song.

The concert will be a rare opportunity to see a performance of such scale.

"Adjusting the 'ah' is so difficult with one thousand people. It's almost impossible with the human force," said Lim, recalling some of the hardships from the rehearsal.

"You could see how long it took to get that 'ah' right in the rehearsal.

"Making a unifying sound all at once is a miracle. In an orchestra, what's important is to gather people's heart as one. In order to do that, I need to motivate them. Gladly, they did very well. It's difficult but fun."

Lim is playing Mahler's Symphony No.8 for the third time.

"The more you perform, the more you discover things you didn't before. Then you revise your faults. As you repeat, you can find the structure. Beauty comes from the structure. You need to understand the structure like you do with architecture. Then you can see the whole picture clearly," said Lim.

He said he was thankful to perform the piece and for the opening of the concert hall.

"It's great Lotte decided to build this concert hall. I don't know how they came up with the idea of performing the 'Symphony of a Thousand' but when they asked me to do it, I felt honored and pledged myself to do it well. The choir is doing extremely well that when they were singing the last part of the choir of the gods, it gave me goosebumps."