“Tour with the SPO to Europe’s premier music festivals
in the Summer of 2014”
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korea＇s No. 1 orchestra, will embark on a European tour to perform in four music festivals in August 2014. Under the baton of Maestro Myung-Whun Chung, the orchestra will unleash their musical ardor and virtuoso talents at the BBC Proms following their performances in Finland, Austria and Italy.
(For more details, visit http://www.seoulphil.or.kr/en/perform/spotour/info/page.do)
BBC Proms
The world＇s greatest classical music festival, has a rich 120 years history in which the SPO performances will be broadcasted live on BBC Radio 3 and heard throughout the world. Held in the Royal Albert Hall in London, concerts and festive events are held annually with each season consisting of seventy concerts of the most elite classical international artists.
(For ticket reservations, visithttp://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/reserveproms.aspx?perfid=36627)
Program
August 27, 2014
Prom 55: Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Unsuk Chin
5.45pm, Royal Albert Hall
Myung-Whun Chung, conductorWu Wei, shengDebussy, La MerUnsuk Chin, Šu Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6
SPO Official Sites
▸ Homepage http://www.seoulphil.or.kr/main/page.do
▸ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SPO
▸ Twitter https://www.twitter.com/seoulphil
▸ Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/seoulphil1
SPO Biography
The SPO presents a wide range of repertoire from Mozart to Messiaen and continues to break box office records by playing for largely sold out audiences. With distinguished guest conductors and soloists, the SPO continues to take the initiative in shaping the Korean classical music scene.
The SPO has extended its scope to an international scale starting in 2007 with Thailand, China, Japan, then to Carnegie Hall in New York and the United Nations Headquarters as an active cultural diplomatic envoy. Since 2010, the SPO has been on international tours to Europe and North America. In 2012, the orchestra won acclaim for its North American tour, including the world renowned Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. This followed the orchestra＇s European festival tour in 2011 including the world-famous Edinburgh International Festival and its European tour to nine cities in 2010 which included Berlin, Bologna, St. Petersburg and Prague, with major reviews hailing the SPO as a “world-class orchestra”, and “an irresistible maelstrom." In 2013, SPO performed a meaningful concert at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Seoul-Beijing sister cities relationship. The SPO tours to Europe’s premier music festivals in the summer of 2014. The SPO is invited to the Turku Music Festival, Grafenegg Festival, Merano Music Festival and to the world’s prestigious classical music festival, the BBC Proms.
As the representative orchestra of Korea, the SPO plays a leading role in bringing the most challenging contemporary works to the Seoul public through its innovative ＇Ars Nova＇series directed by internationally renowned Korean composer Unsuk Chin who also serves as the orchestra＇s composer-in-residence.
Apart from traditional concert hall venues, the SPO performs more than 70 outreach concerts annually visiting parks, classrooms and local churches. Customized education programs such as “Neighborhood Orchestra” for young people from low socio-economic backgrounds, "Let＇s Play with the Orchestra", "Music Story " for children, "Pre-concert Lecture" for adult audiences are all part of the orchestra＇s vision to expand its future audience base. Aside from that, the SPO holds a ‘Brass Academy’, ‘Conducting Master Class’, and ‘Composer’s Master Class’ to develop and nurture young artists on a long-term basis.
In 2011, SPO became the first Asian orchestra to sign an exclusive worldwide contract with the Deutsche Grammophon label for 10 CDs. Its debut album released in July 2011 featured French repertoire including Debussy and Ravel which was then followed by Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in November 2011. Both of these albums have gone platinum. In April 2012, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 was released then Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique” paired with Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” in August of the same year. The following recording, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 5 with Sunwook Kim, was released in April 2013 and the latest addition is Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in December 2013. SPO releases CDs with Chin＇s three Concertos and Mahler Symphony No. 9 with the Deutsche Grammophon label in the second half of 2014.
Maestro Myung-Whun Chung＇s Biography
Hailed as "a spiritual conductor" by Le Monde, Maestro Myung-Whun Chung is one of the most respected conductors of our time today.
Following his studies at Mannes College and The Juilliard School in New York, he became Carlo Maria Giulini＇s assistant in 1979 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and two years later was named Associate Conductor.
Since then, he has conducted virtually all of the most prominent European and American orchestras, as well as major opera houses. From 1984 to 1990, Myung-Whun Chung served as Music Director of the Saarbrücken Radio Orchestra in Germany. From 1989 to 1994, he served as Music Director of the Paris Opéra, from 1997 to 2005 he was the Principal Conductor of Rome’s Santa Cecilia Orchestra and from 2001 to 2010 he served as the Special Artistic Advisor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since 2000, he has been the Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique of the Radio France, Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Music Director of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra which he founded in 1995. In 2011 he was appointed as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle.
He was awarded many prestigious prizes worldwide, among them the Premio Abbiati’ and the ‘Toscanini Prize’ in Italy, ‘Artist of the year’, ‘Victoires de la Musique’ and the ‘Commendeur de Legion d＇Honneur’ in France, the top ‘Record Academy Prize’ in Japan, and ‘Kumkuan Prize’ in Korea. Recently in 2013, he was bestowed Italy’s ‘Una Vita Nella Musica Award’(Lifetime Music Prize).
As an exclusive artist of the famed recording company Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft since 1984, his recordings have garnered numerous prestigious awards worldwide. Continuing his collaboration his recording company, in 2011, Maestro Chung and Deutsche Grammophon established a 5-year exclusive contract with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
Long committed to humanitarian causes, Maestro Chung has launched several music programs dedicated to youth development. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he traveled to Benin in 2010 where he pledged his time to programs in HIV/AIDS, water sanitation, and education. Through the ‘Miracle Of Music’ Foundation which he founded in 2008, Maestro Chung continues to bring together the worlds of humanitarian causes and music.
