Korean Chamber Orchestra to premiere work by French composer Tailleferre

A poster for the Korean Chamber Orchestra's upcoming concert / Courtesy of Korean Chamber Orchestra

The Korean Chamber Orchestra (KCO) will open its new season with a concert featuring music by a French composer largely unknown to Korean audiences.

According to the orchestra, the KCO will premiere Germaine Tailleferre’s Concertino for Harp and Orchestra with solo harpist Kwon Min-young at its season-opening concert at the Seoul Arts Center, Feb. 10.

Tailleferre (1892–1983) was the only female member of Les Six, a group that helped shape French neoclassical music with wit and elegance in the early 20th century. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire and composed prolifically across genres, producing more than 200 works despite persistent gender barriers and the frequent lack of publication of her scores. Active as a composer until the age of 91, her music is marked by lyricism, bitonality and jazz influences.

The program also includes Robert Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale for Orchestra, Op. 52, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 43, featuring pianist Sun Youl. The concert will conclude with Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s "Dances of Galánta."

The orchestra will be conducted by Sergey Smbatyan, a conductor from Armenia.

“The program brings together works from different eras and regions into a single, organic arc, spotlighting both the musical expansiveness the KCO has pursued and the finely honed ensemble aesthetics that define its sound,” the orchestra said in a press release issued Wednesday.

Founded in 1965, the KCO has grown into one of Korea’s oldest and most respected chamber ensembles, steadily expanding its size and artistic scope over the past six decades. The orchestra now has 120 members.

Until last year, the KCO has presented more than 800 performances, including 141 overseas concerts, and released 19 albums. It performed at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 1999 and at the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2000, engagements that earned it the title “U.N. Official Chamber Orchestra of Peace.”

For tickets and more information, visit kco.or.kr.