[From Ryu Taehyung's Guest Seat] Healing from COVID and Heatwave... Brahms Is Autumn

Lotte Concert Hall & Yesul-ui Jeondang Summer Festival
Summer Slump Disappears in Classical Music Scene

Ryu Taehyung Music Columnist

This summer's heatwave was record-breaking. It was as scorching as in 2018 and 1994. Another reason why it was hard to breathe during the scorching days from July to August was the relentless COVID-19 pandemic, which forced people to keep their masks on. Spaces where one could escape the heat while wearing a mask were desperately needed. Classical music concert halls emerged as one of the best summer retreats. Audiences, sitting apart and masked in air-conditioned venues, found greater meaning in the moving experience of cool music that helped them forget the harsh reality.

July and August have traditionally been considered the off-season for classical music performances. Since it is vacation time and people travel to places other than their homes or workplaces, concert halls tend to be empty and performances scarce. Classical music enthusiasts visited festivals like the Pyeongchang Daegwallyeong Music Festival and the Tongyeong International Music Festival, which they could enjoy while on vacation. The Pyeongchang Daegwallyeong Music Festival, which opened on July 28 this year, sold out all 13 main concerts and closed on August 7. At the Tongyeong International Music Hall, local enthusiasts and vacationers from other regions enjoyed performances such as the 20th anniversary concert of the TIMF Ensemble in July, the Dream Orchestra concert, and the Solasian Youth Orchestra concert featuring Baek Gun-woo and Kim Sun-wook in August.

Following these two established festivals, leading concert halls in Korea such as Lotte Concert Hall and Seoul Arts Center have enriched the summer festival scene. These summer festivals, which guarantee high-quality performances with carefully selected artists and pursue consistent completeness through annual themes, have especially become summer retreats for performance lovers who lost their usual venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon performing at the 2021 Classic Revolution 'Brahms & Piazzolla'. (Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation)

The summer festival based in concert halls began last August with Lotte Concert Hall. The starting point was the 4th anniversary celebration, ‘Classic Revolution 2020 Beethoven.’ ‘Classic Revolution’ is a festival held every August for about ten days, welcoming audiences with a variety of programs ranging from recitals to chamber music, concertos, and symphonies. This year’s Classic Revolution, held from August 13 to 22, focused on the 100th anniversary of Piazzolla’s birth and German composer Brahms. The program included Brahms’ Symphony Nos. 1, 3, and 4 (performed by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra), Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (performed by Sunwoo Yekwon and Lee Jinsang), Violin Concerto (Kim Donghyun), Brahms’ String Quartets Nos. 1 to 3, Piano Quintet, String Sextet, Clarinet Quintet (performed by Novus Quartet, Lee Hanna, Park Yushin, Sunwoo Yekwon, Kim Han), and complete Violin Sonatas (Kim Suyeon, Lee Jinsang). The complete Brahms Violin Sonatas performed by Kim Suyeon and Lee Jinsang on the 14th were outstanding with solid Germanic structure, and the Novus Quartet’s string quartets, piano quintet, string sextet, and clarinet quintet on the 15th showcased the essence of Brahms’ chamber music with its rich mid-to-low tones. Listening to Brahms in an air-conditioned concert hall evoked autumn through all the senses.

Following Brahms, the latter half of the festival from the 19th for four days highlighted Piazzolla’s music. Representative works such as ‘The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’ (Korean Chamber Orchestra, Yoon Soyoung), ‘Libertango’ (Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Go Sangji), and ‘Oblivion’ (Go Sangji, Park Kyui) were performed. Music by composers who influenced Piazzolla’s musical world was also included, such as Saint-Sa?ns’ Organ Symphony (Park Junho) and Mozart’s Oboe Concerto (Ham Kyung).

As in the previous year, violinist and conductor Christoph Poppen served as the artistic director of Classic Revolution. Poppen, a German violinist from M?nster, studied violin under Nathan Milstein, Oscar Shumsky, and Joseph Gingold. He was the founder and violinist of the Cherubini Quartet. He taught at Detmold Music University and the Hanns Eisler School of Music and conducted the Hilliard Ensemble and Munich Chamber Orchestra. He is also the mentor of Clara Jumi Kang and the Novus Quartet. During the festival, performers likely gained much by playing and learning alongside Poppen.

2021 Classic Revolution 'Brahms & Piazzolla' Orchestra. (Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation)

Meanwhile, starting this year, Seoul Arts Center’s August is also filled with a music festival. From August 27 to 29, the ‘2021 Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival’ will be held at the Concert Hall and Inchun Art Hall. The theme is ‘NEW HOPE,’ symbolizing new hope. Above all, it aims to provide performance opportunities to emerging musicians who suffered greatly due to COVID-19 and to promote coexistence among production companies, planners, and management agencies, as well as the revival of the performance ecosystem. Seoul Arts Center partnered with the Korea Performing Arts Management Association to carefully select performers through an open call and planned a three-day relay concert series. All 13 individual and ensemble teams filling the festival were selected through this open call. During the 10-day application period starting May 12, a total of 206 applications were received, and one conductor and 13 teams were selected, recording competition ratios of 22:1 and 14:1, respectively.

The collaboration between Seoul Arts Center and private organizers and planners, who are members of the classical music ecosystem, is significant. Seoul Arts Center held forums and meetings in April, June, and November last year to listen to the damages in the music industry caused by COVID-19 and the difficulties faced by the private sector. This shared intention led to the joint promotion of this festival to create jobs for musicians and intermediaries.

Conductor Seungwon Lee, who conducted at the '2021 Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival.' (Photo by Seoul Arts Center)

The festival’s opening and finale will be performed by the SAC Festival Orchestra conducted by Lee Seungwon. The opening concert features violinist Jo Jinju, and the closing concert features pianist Won Jaeyeon as soloists. Lee Seungwon, one of the most notable young conductors recently, is a viola professor at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and conductor of the orchestra at the Berlin C.P.E. Bach High School of Music. The concertmaster of the SAC Festival Orchestra is Lee Ji-hye, second violin concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Park Jiyoon, concertmaster of the Radio France Philharmonic. Kim Jaewon, formerly second violin of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, serves as the deputy concertmaster. The orchestra also includes highly skilled musicians such as Kim Yewon, principal second violin of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic, and Kim Sejun, principal viola of the Hanover NDR Radio Philharmonic. On weekends, 13 selected ensembles, including the Risus Quartet, Eden Quartet, Arete Quartet, Ensemble Blank, and Artemium Brass Band, will hold a relay music festival from 11 a.m. to night at the Concert Hall and Inchun Art Hall, selected through a competitive process with a 14:1 ratio.

The festival continues at Inchun Art Hall, the youngest venue of Seoul Arts Center completed last November. Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. feature a classical guitar feast. The first part showcases the guitar duo Kim Jinse and Park Jihyung, followed by Korean-Belgian guitarist Denis Seongho meeting the audience in the second part. At 7:30 p.m., pianist Kim Honggi and violinist Lee Uil perform consecutively.

On the last day of the festival, August 29, at 11 a.m. in the Concert Hall, Blast Five, formed by clarinetist Jo Inhyuk, flutist Park Yeram, oboist Yoon Sungyoung, bassoonist Kim Hyunjun, horn player Kim Byunghoon, and pianist Park Youngsung, will present a colorful ensemble of woodwinds and piano. In the second part, Kim Jaewon, cellist Lee Junghyun, and pianist Lee Taekgi will perform a trio. On Sunday at 2 p.m., harmonica player Lee Yunseok and percussionist Park Hyeji will perform at Inchun Art Hall.

Although the Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival started as a shorter three-day event than Classic Revolution, quantitative growth is also anticipated. Seoul Arts Center announced plans to make the festival an annual event starting this year and to organically connect and utilize classical music-dedicated spaces.

In a time when traveling far is difficult, Lotte Concert Hall’s Classic Revolution and Seoul Arts Center’s summer festival are like a refreshing rain for classical music audiences in the metropolitan area. The notion that summer is an off-season in the classical performance world will disappear, and the performers and programs of summer festivals will become hot topics.

Ryu Taehyung, Music Columnist

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.