Cellist Choi Ha-young's First Collaboration with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra: "Variations on a Rococo Theme"

On the 20th at Lotte Concert Hall

Cellist Choi Ha-young, winner of the 2022 Queen Elizabeth Competition, will collaborate with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time.

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will perform "Variations on a Rococo Theme by Choi Ha-young" at Lotte Concert Hall on the 20th. The orchestra will open with Korngold's "Strauss Story," followed by Tchaikovsky's "Variations on a Rococo Theme" featuring Choi Ha-young.

"Variations on a Rococo Theme" was composed by Tchaikovsky during the most difficult economic and mental period of his life. He wrote it for Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a German cellist and professor at the Moscow Conservatory. The piece showcases the rich expressiveness of the cello and the harmony with the orchestra.

Choi Ha-young won first place as the youngest competitor at the Brahms International Competition at age 13, and gained global recognition by winning the Penderecki Competition in 2018 and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2022.

Choi Ha-young shared her thoughts on the first collaboration: "I first saw the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts when I was seven. It is an honor to perform with the orchestra I have watched since childhood, and I am happy to play a piece that I hold special in the beautiful autumn season." Regarding "Variations on a Rococo Theme," she explained, "The piece contains variations that evoke ballet and old palace dances, a lyrical and impressive slow variation, and a dramatic cello solo cadenza. It is a work that encompasses various styles in one piece, allowing you to feel the elegant and beautiful melodies woven into the cello’s wide range."

Cellist Choi Ha-young [Photo by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra]

The opening piece, "Strauss Story," is a fantasy arranged by extracting works of waltz composer Johann Strauss. It weaves together various "Viennese music" such as the "Radetzky March," "Emperor Waltz," and "The Beautiful Blue Danube" like a medley.

In the second half, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the "Symphonie Fantastique" by French composer Hector Berlioz. This piece was inspired by Berlioz’s failed unrequited love and the resulting despair and hatred after he courted Harriet Smithson, an Irish actress, during his youth. Berlioz musically expresses the story of a young artist tormented by heartbreak who falls into a coma and experiences strange visions.

Berlioz introduced a unique technique called "id?e fixe" in this piece. The protagonist’s beloved woman is represented by a single melody (id?e fixe), which is repeatedly presented with variations in rhythm and instrumentation according to the situation. The id?e fixe appears elegantly and charmingly in the first movement, as a playful dance in the second, as a harshly approaching and sadly receding vision in the third, and as the protagonist’s sorrowful sigh at the end in the fourth. In the final fifth movement, it transforms into the image of a frivolous dancing witch, depicting the catastrophic finale of the witches’ sabbath.

The conductor is Fabien Gabel from France. This will be his third collaboration with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, following 2016 and 2019. He gained recognition as a conductor by winning the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2004. He served as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for two years until 2006 and received the French Order of Arts and Letters in 2020.

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