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| Poster for the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO)'s 2022 Season 1 program / Courtesy of SPO |
By Park Ji-won
Amid the pandemic entering its third year, Korea's orchestras have recruited foreign conductors as their music directors, roles which have long been held by Korean nationals. Chung Myung-whun, for instance, served at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) for nine years since 2006 and Chung Chi-yong served at the Korean Symphony Orchestra for four years since 2018.
Hoping to fill more seats at their concerts, the KBS Symphony Orchestra has appointed Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, who will lead the broadcaster's music organization starting January, and the Korean Symphony Orchestra (KSO) appointed Belgian conductor David Reiland. Finnish music director Osmo Vanska replaced Chung in 2020 as music director for SPO and will led the organization until 2022.
As the New Year approaches, the local orchestras unveiled their programs for next year, which include many performances starring foreign virtuosos and renowned performers.
The SPO will begin next year with requiems in January.
Vanska will lead concerts in collaboration with the leading musicians. The SPO invited several globally renowned conductors and musicians. In February, for example, Tung-Chieh Chuang, Taiwanese conductor who won 2015 Malko Competition for Young Conductors, will lead the orchestra to perform with Swedish trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger. In July, Kim Eun-sun, the music director of the San Francisco Opera, the first Korean to take the helm, will lead the orchestra as a conductor in July.
Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer, who has been the principal guest conductor of the SPO since 2017 will lead four concerts in June.
Conductor Aziz Shokhakimov, Finnish conductor, Jukka-Pekka Sarast, German conductor Marc Albrecht and French conductor Sylvain Cambreling will lead the orchestra starting in August and December, respectively.
In March and April, Vanska will collaborate with Augustin Hadelich, an Italian German American Grammy-winning violinist and the musician who was appointed as SPO's 2022 artist-in-focus along with Hakan Hardenberger, a Swedish trumpet player. Vanska will be performing with Grammy-winning violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill on May 19 and 20. Kirill Gerstein, a concert pianist whose achievements span the classical and jazz music worlds, will be performing in April with Vanska. Russian pianist Andrei Korobeinikov will collaborate with the SPO in September.
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| Poster for the KBS Symphony Orchestra's 2022 program / Courtesy of KBS Symphony Orchestra |
For the KBS orchestra, Inkinen will only conduct the orchestra six times and hand the baton to other leading conductors while putting emphasis on Finnish musicians and violin pieces as well as large-sized orchestral pieces such as Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 7" and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9."
Russian pianist Yulianna Andreevna Avdeeva, the winner of the Chopin Competition in 2010, will collaborate with the KBS orchestra in January, opening up the orchestra's new season.
Alan Gilbert, who led the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, will conduct the KBS Symphony Orchestra in July, which is his first time conducting a Korean orchestra.
Austrian-Iranian cellist Kian Soltani will perform with the orchestra under Gilbert in July. Russian and Belgian violinist Vadim Viktorovich Repin and French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will be performing in February and June, respectively.
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