Composer Donghoon Shin, countertenor Iestyn Davies team up for Seoul concert
Summary
Sejong Soloists will present a concert at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Consolation Hall in Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, featuring countertenor Iestyn Davies, violinist Kim Chee-yun and composer Donghoon Shin. The program will include the Asian premieres of Shin’s Sonnets to Orpheus and Winter Sonata alongside classical works by Janáček, Haydn, Beethoven and Handel. Sonnets to Orpheus draws on Rainer Maria Rilke’s poems and traces emotions surrounding death. Sejong Soloists artistic director Kang Kyung-won said the concert would introduce Shin’s latest work to Korean audiences with outstanding performers.
Key Facts
- Sonnets to Orpheus was commissioned by Sejong Soloists, Wigmore Hall in London, Istanbul Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest in the United States.
- Sonnets to Orpheus received its world premiere in Istanbul in June with Davies and members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
- Winter Sonata, written for violin and piano, premiered in Germany in June 2025 with violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
- In 2019, Shin became the first Korean composer to receive the Critics’ Circle Award for Emerging Talent, for Kafka’s Dream, composed for the London Symphony Orchestra.
- Davies has performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London.
Countertenor Iestyn Davies, violinist Chee-Yun and composer Donghoon Shin are pictured in a poster for the Sejong Soloists Chamber Music Series concert at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in central Seoul, Nov. 28 / Courtesy of Sejong Soloists
A leading Korean composer and an internationally acclaimed countertenor will share a stage in Seoul next month, bringing two contemporary works to Korean audiences alongside classical compositions in a program designed to bridge musical traditions across centuries.
Sejong Soloists will present the concert at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Consolation Hall in Seosomun Shrine History Museum, featuring countertenor Iestyn Davies, violinist Kim Chee-yun, composer Donghoon Shin and other musicians.
The concert will include the Asian premieres of Shin’s “Sonnets to Orpheus” (2026) and “Winter Sonata” (2025), offering audiences an opportunity to hear recent works by a composer whose music has attracted international attention.
“Sonnets to Orpheus,” commissioned by Sejong Soloists, Wigmore Hall in London, Istanbul Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest in the United States, received its world premiere in Istanbul in June with Davies and members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
The five-movement work draws on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, tracing emotions surrounding death, from grief and anger to acceptance, reconciliation and transcendence.
“Winter Sonata,” written for violin and piano, premiered in Germany in June 2025, performed by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
Shin gained international recognition in 2019 when “Kafka’s Dream,” composed for the London Symphony Orchestra, earned him the Critics’ Circle Award for Emerging Talent, making him the first Korean composer to receive the honor, according to the organizers.
Davies, a Grammy Award-winning countertenor and recipient of the Order of the British Empire, has performed at major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London.
The program also includes Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata,” songs by Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, an aria by George Frideric Handel and Beethoven’s “Cavatina.”
“The history of classical music has continued alongside the birth of new works," said Sejong Soloists artistic director Kang Kyung-won.
“It is meaningful to introduce the latest work by Donghoon Shin, a composer attracting attention from the international music world, to Korean audiences with outstanding performers."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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