Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra | |
Hangul | 서울시립교향악단 |
---|---|
Hanja | 서울市立交響樂團 |
Revised Romanization | Seoul Sirip Gyohyang Akdan |
McCune–Reischauer | Sŏul Sirip Kyohyang Akdan |
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO), founded in 1948, is one of the oldest and most famous orchestras in South Korea. Its first foreign tour came on a 1965 trip to Japan, followed by performances in Southeast Asia in 1977, the United States in 1982, 1986 and 1996, a 1988 tour of Europe before the Seoul Olympics that year, and a 1997 performance in Beijing. The Philharmonic is an incorporated foundation since 2005. Its current music director is Myung-Whun Chung.
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO), which was founded in January 1948, has a longer history than any other Korean orchestra. In February 1948, the orchestra held its opening concert, conducted by Maestro Seong-Tae Kim. In October of the same year, the Seoul Philharmonic Society was formed to provide support for the orchestra. The society published the music monthly Philharmony in the following year. After a subscription concert in the Seoul Civic Hall on June 25, 1950, the orchestra had to suspend its activities due to the outbreak of the Korean War, but resumed performance with the name of the Naval Symphony Orchestra, just five months later, to soothe the broken hearts of Koreans during the war.
In August 1957, the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed "The Seoul Metropolitan Ordinances to Install a City-Run Orchestra", the Naval Symphony Orchestra became the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the first Korean orchestra funded by a government. The launching ceremony for the orchestra with triple winds took place in the city council’s chamber. Saeng-Ryo Kim was appointed its first Chief Conductor. Since then, the SPO has helped the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky take root as basic repertoire in the Korean music community.
It was through these concerts that such names as Kyung-Sook Lee, Kun-Woo Paik, Kyung-Wha Chung, Dong-Suk Kang and Myung-Whun Chung, who have finally become maestros to represent the Korean music community, were able to blossom.
With the aim of growing to a major orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra was re-launched as an incorporated foundation on June 1, 2005 and appointed Myung-Whun Chung as its Music Director (he had been Artistic Advisor in 2005).
The orchestra under Chung performed the nine symphonies of Beethoven in 2006 and all of the symphonies and concertos of Brahms in 2007.
Since the re-launch as an incorporated foundation, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing with such world-class conductors as Charles Dutoit, Alexander Frey, Leonard Slatkin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Pinchas Zukerman, Gennady Rozhdestvensky James Judd, David Afkham, Pascal Rophe, Kirill Karabits, Mikko Franck, Andrey Boreyko, and Francois-Xavier Roth, as well as such distinguished musicians as András Schiff (Pf), Martha Argerich (Pf), Kyung-wha Chung (Vn), Viviane Hagner (Vn), Mischa Maisky (Vc), Alexander Melnikov (Pf), Ilya Gringolts (Vn), Julian Lloyd Webber(Vc), Valentina Lisitsa (Pf), Nicholas Angelich (Pf), Hakan Hardenberger (Tp), Leonidas Kavakos (Vn), Arcadi Volodos (Pf), Gary Graffman (Pf), Colin Currie (Per.), Alexei Lubimov (Pf), Martin Frost (Cl), and Heinz Holliger (Ob).
Focus is also placed on interaction with modern music. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra "has the reputation for championing more new music than any other major Asian orchestra". [1] It adopted the composer-in-residence system for the first time in Korea when it was re-launched as an incorporated foundation, and welcomed Unsuk Chin as its first Composer-in-Residence. Ms Chin is founder-director of a series of modern music titled Ars Nova since 2006. It has featured conductors such as Peter Eötvös, Kwamé Ryan, Thierry Fischer, Susanna Mälkki, François-Xavier Roth, Ilan Volkov, Baldur Brönnimann and Roland Kluttig, among others. Until 2011, the series had presented around 100 Korean premieres - the half of them being Asian premieres - of works by leading 20th- and 21st-century composers including names such as Anton von Webern, Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, John Cage, Giacinto Scelsi, Witold Lutoslawski, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez or György Kurtág. In 2009, the series collaborated with IRCAM, the Paris-based centre for electronic music. Korea. Since 2011, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra has commissioned or co-commissioned orchestral works by composers such as Pascal Dusapin, Peter Eötvös, Tristan Murail and York Höller for the 'Ars Nova' series. Additionally, several commissions by major Korean composers have been premiered. [2] [3] [4]
The orchestra signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2011 to release 10 albums over five years, making it the first time that an Asian orchestra has signed such an extensive contract. A portrait CD with music by Unsuk Chin was named a International Classical Music Award and a BBC Music Magazine Award winner in the Contemporary Music category.
Conductors
- Principal Conductors
- Saeng-Ryeo Kim (1948-1961)
- Man-Bok Kim (1961-1969)
- Gyeong-Su Won (1970-1971 & 1994-1996)
- Jae-Dong Jeong (1974-1990)
- Eun-Seong Park (1990-1991)
- Mark Ermler (2000-2002)
- Seung Kwak (2003, also Music Director)
- Myung-Whun Chung (2006-2015, also Artistic Director)
Full-time Conductor
- Jae-Dong Jeong (1971-1974)
Artistic Supervisor
- Seung Kwak (2002)
Associate Conductor
- Eun-Seong Park (1984-1989)
- Shi-Yeon Seong (2009-2013)
- Su-Yeol Choi (2014-)
Composer-in-Residence
- Unsuk Chin (2006-, also Artistic Director of Ars Nova series)
Presidents
- Pal-seong Lee (2005~2008)
- Jooho Kim (2009~2012)
- Hyeon-Jeong Park (2013~2014)
- Heung-Sik Choi (2015~2018)
Recordings
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet, Marche Slave / Franz Liszt: Les préludes / Yoon-Joo Jeong: Gayageum Concerto theme by Hwang Byung-Ki (with Seung-Hi Yang), conducted by Jae-Dong Jeong, Seoul Records LP/Compact Cassette 1987.
- César Franck: Symphony in D minor / Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Hye-Kyeong Lee), conducted by Jae-Dong Jeong, SKC CD 1989.
- Edward Elgar: Salut d'Amour (version for orchestra) / Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: First & Second Intermezzos from I gioielli della Madonna / Edvard Grieg: Solveig's Song from Peer Gynt / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Andante from Divertimento K.136 (125a) / Bedřich Smetana: Dance of Comedians from The Bartered Bride / George Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Menuetto from Symphony No. 39 / Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Andante cantabile from String Quartet No. 1 (version for string orchestra) / Edward Elgar: Allegro piacevole from Serenade for Strings / Joseph Haydn: Allegro spiritoso from Symphony No. 83, conducted by Gyeong-Su Won, Samsung Nices CD 1995. (Encore collection from subscription concerts during the year of 1994)
- Max Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Ho-Young Pi) / Antonín Dvořák: Cello Concerto (with Young-Hoon Song), conducted by Chi-Yong Chung, Seoul Arts Center CD 2001.
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CD 2006.
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1 & Academic Festival Overture, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CD 2007.
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CD 2008.
- Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CD 2009.
- Claude Debussy: La mer / Maurice Ravel: Ma mère l'oye & La valse, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2011.
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Universal Music Korea 2011. (as a bonus disk of 33-CDs boxset 'Myung-whun Chung: DG Recordings 1991-2010')
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2011.
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (with Myung Joo Lee, Petra Lang, National Chorus of Korea, Seoul Metropolitan Chorus, Seoul Motet Choir & Grande Opera Choir), conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2012.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 / Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vocalise, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2012.
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 (with Sunwook Kim) & Symphony No. 5, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2013.
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (with Kathleen Kim, Songmi Yang, Yosep Kang, Samuel Youn, National Chorus of Korea, Seoul Motet Choir & Anyang Civic Chorale), conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2013.
- Unsuk Chin: Piano Concerto (with Sunwook Kim), Cello Concerto (with Alban Gerhardt) & Šu for sheng and orchestra (with Wu Wei), conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2014.
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2014.
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, Deutsche Grammophon 2015.
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Harders-Wuthenow, Frank. 2011. "Ars Nova" - à sa manière In: 'Im Spiegel der Zeit - die Komponistin Unsuk Chin', ed. Stefan Drees (Mainz, 2011), p.205-218 ISBN 978-3-7957-0760-6.
- ↑ magazine article [2]
- ↑ "Musik als Chefsache - Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra auf dem Weg zum Weltklasseorchester"
External links
- (English)Homepage
- "Seoul Philharmonic aiming to become world-class orchestra", Yonhap News, January 13, 2006.
- "Seoul Philharmonic Protests With Music", The Korea Times, March 31, 2005.
- "Das Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra erfindet sich neu", neue musikzeitung, 6/09 - 58. Jahrgang.
- "Musik als Chefsache - Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra auf dem Weg zum Weltklasseorchester"
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