‘Creative and Challenging Transformation’… KBS Symphony Orchestra’s First Half Year Planned Concerts and Chamber Music Performances

Offering Unique Enjoyment Through First Half Year Planned Concerts and Chamber Music Performances

Conductor Byungwook Lee, who conducted the musical 'West Side Story' at the White Day Concerto. Photo by KBS Symphony Orchestra

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The KBS Symphony Orchestra will visit audiences in the first half of this year with special classical music concerts and chamber music performances that offer a unique enjoyment of classical music.

With creative and challenging concert planning, the orchestra aims to expand accessibility to classical music by organizing repertoires that allow the public to easily approach classical music.

The first planned concert on the 12th will be a gala concert of Bizet's opera Carmen. Following Tosca (2017) and La Boh?me (2019), this is the KBS Symphony Orchestra's third concert opera, where audiences can enjoy a vibrant and captivating Carmen concert opera accompanied by dynamic visuals. It will be held at 5 p.m. on the 12th at Lotte Concert Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

Conductor Kim Kwanghyun, who will lead the performance, said, "Since it is rare for domestic symphony orchestras to plan operas, this will be a fun and new experience for families, couples, and friends to enjoy together in celebration of Valentine's Day."

On March 11, the White Day Concerto will be held at Lotte Concert Hall. Audiences can enjoy beautiful musical and opera music from musicals such as West Side Story and the opera Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a modern adaptation and reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Soprano Lee Yoonjung, mezzo-soprano Kim Jungmi, tenor Park Jimin, and bass-baritone Woo Kyungsik will perform on stage.

On this month’s 11th, a chamber music series featuring pianist Park Jonghae will take place. The concert, held at the IBK Chamber Hall in the Seoul Arts Center, will present Beethoven’s single-movement sonata-form piece Allegretto in B-flat major for Piano Trio, WoO 39 and Beethoven’s lesser-known but famous String Trio in D minor, Op. 9-3. Additionally, the romantic era’s most romantic composer Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 will be performed.

On April 15, a chamber music concert with guitarist Park Kyuhui, who has won numerous prestigious international guitar competitions, will be held at the IBK Chamber Hall in the Seoul Arts Center. The program includes Boccherini’s well-known Guitar Quintet No. 4 and Tedesco’s modern Guitar Quintet, performed in collaboration with the KBS Symphony Orchestra’s string quartet team.

Park Kyuhui said, "Although the guitar and the instruments that make up the string quartet are all string instruments, their sounds are completely different. Since opportunities to hear this combination are rare, I selected pieces that have the power to imprint this harmony."

A KBS Symphony Orchestra official stated, "While our regular concerts showcase traditional classical music, these planned concerts are designed with various concepts to further expand the KBS Symphony Orchestra’s unique repertoire and to make classical music more accessible to the public."

Tickets can be reserved through Interpark.

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