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| Conductor Chung Myung-whun / Courtesy of Matthias Creutziger |
By Dong Sun-hwa
For classical music fans in Korea, 2023 is set to be a thrilling year as a legion of prominent musicians and orchestras are scheduled to perform here.
The Staatskapelle Dresden, one of the world's oldest orchestras, founded in 1548, will take the stage in Seoul this March.
Korean conductor Chung Myung-whun, who has been the principal guest conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2012, will take the helm of the upcoming concert. The Germany-based orchestra will collaborate with internationally acclaimed pianist Cho Seong-jin, the winner of the 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition (2015), to perform Tchaikovsky's piano concertos and Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony."
Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the oldest symphony orchestra in Switzerland, established in 1805, will be coming to Korea on June 28. Led by conductor Michael Sanderling, the orchestra will team up with Korean pianist Lim Yun-chan, an 18-year-old who became the youngest winner of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June. They will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 together.
In July, the Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin, which consists of the members of Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic, is poised to perform here for the first time in its history. They will take the stage with the pieces written by world-renowned Austrian and German composers.
In November, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the Netherlands, which was picked as the world's No. 1 orchestra by classical music magazine Gramophone, will have its performance at the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul. It has been six years since the orchestra last performed in Korea.
Italian conductor Fabio Luisi will lead the orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The orchestra will also team up with pianist Yefim Bronfman to perform Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2.
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| The Korean National Symphony Orchestra / Courtesy of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra |
Prior to the performances of the orchestras from abroad, Korean symphony orchestras will mesmerize audiences with their New Year performances that will take place later this month. On Jan. 12, the Korean National Symphony Orchestra will hold its New Year's concert at the Haeoreum Theater in Seoul. Led by artistic director David Reiland from Belgium, the orchestra will perform Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet in collaboration with ballet dancers, while performing a newly arranged version of "Sarangga" from pansori "Chunhyangga" with Ko Yeong-yeol, a singer of traditional Korean music. Pansori is a Korean traditional genre of musical storytelling.
On Jan. 7, soprano Sumi Jo, the first Korean artist to receive a Grammy award in 1992 for her performance on the album, "R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten," will stage a concert in Seoul. She will team up with pianist Moon Jae-won, among others.
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