Discount offered for Berlin Philharmonic tickets
Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic perform in Taipei during their 2011 Asia tour. / Courtesy of Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation
Top German Orchestra to perform Prokofiev, Schumann, Bruckner in November
By Do Je-hae
The Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation is offering a limited chance for local fans of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) to buy concert tickets at a discount.
The orchestra will perform in Seoul on Nov. 11 and 12 at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho. Concertgoers who make reservations between May 29 and June 7 will be given a 10 percent discount. Tickets range from 70,000 to 450,000 won. No additional discount will be available after this period. Regular sales will start on June 11.
Since 2005, when the BPO started to make regular trips to Seoul, ticket prices for their concerts have been the most expensive among foreign orchestras performing in Korea. R seats cost 450,000 won, and the cheapest C (70,000 won) or B (160,000 won) seats are normally sold out within a few days of the opening of ticket sales. S seats are 380,000 won and the A seats are 270,000 won.
The program will include Schumann's first symphony and Prokofiev's first violin concerto on Nov. 11 with first concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto as soloist.
On Nov. 12, they will perform "Notations for Symphony Orchestra" by French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez and Bruckner's seventh symphony.
The BPO first visited Korea in 1984 under the direction of Herbert von Karajan, and it was almost 20 years before they performed here again in 2005. Since then, the orchestra has come to Korea more often. The BPO's Brahms cycle in 2008 and Bruckner symphonies in 2011 were sold out and left deep impressions on symphonic music lovers.
British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who has been the BPO music director since 2002, has led all of the performances in Seoul.
He is popular with Korean music fans, particularly for initiating the "Digital Concert Hall” project, which streams live concerts from the Philharmonie, the home of the BPO, on the Internet. The Financial Times has called it “classical music’s most advanced response to the digital age.”
“When the idea of the ‘Digital Concert Hall’ occurred to us, I was immediately certain that this is the way of the future. I believe it is a marvelous thing for both the orchestra and the public,” Rattle said during a press conference in 2011 in Seoul. “And it is a wonderful feeling to be able to welcome far more people to the Philharmonie than before.”
The “Digital Concert Hall” has accumulated an impressive archive of more than 100 performances and this continues to grow. There are two options when accessing the digital concerts -- People can watch concerts via live stream Webcast or access from an on-demand archive of past performances.
The BPO has set up a team to run the project and plans to produce exclusive digital content, particularly artist interviews and background reports, like a rehearsal video of the BPO under former music director Claudio Abbado of Beethoven’s 6th symphony.
As of September 2011, the “Digital Concert Hall” is also available as an app on Samsung smart TVs.
For more information on the concerts, visit www.kumhoasiana.com or call 02-6303-1977.