Cho Seongjin Named 'In-House Artist' for Lotte Concert Hall's 10th Anniversary

Myung-Whun Chung to Perform with Yunchan Lim in January and Sehyun Kim in April
Teodor Currentzis and Helsinki Philharmonic Make First Visit to Korea

Pianist Cho Seongjin will serve as the in-house artist (resident musician) for Lotte Concert Hall, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. In July, Cho Seongjin will take the stage at Lotte Concert Hall twice, performing both a solo recital and a chamber music concert.

In January, Chung Myungwhun will collaborate with Yunchan Lim, and in April, he will perform with pianist Kim Sehyun, who won this year's Long-Thibaud Competition. The legendary conductor Charles Dutoit, who continues to share the stage as a musical companion even after ending his marital relationship, and the "Empress of Piano" Martha Argerich, winner of the 1965 Chopin Competition, will present a joint performance in November. Renowned conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Teodor Currentzis, as well as violinists Yang Inmo and Ray Chen, will also commemorate the 10th anniversary of Lotte Concert Hall.

Pianist Cho Seongjin [Photo by Lotte Culture Foundation, (c)Christoph Koestlin]

The Lotte Cultural Foundation, which operates Lotte Concert Hall, looked back on the past decade and, on December 10, announced its 2026 performance plans for Lotte Concert Hall, marking the start of a new decade.

Cho Seongjin will perform chamber music on July 14 and a solo recital on July 19. The chamber music concert will feature Daishin Kashimoto, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic; Wenzel Fuchs, principal clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic; horn player Stefan Dohr; and Park Kyungmin, the first Korean to become a tenured member of the Berlin Philharmonic, among others.

For the July 19 solo recital, Cho Seongjin will perform Bach's Partita No. 1, Schoenberg's Piano Suite, Schumann's "Carnaval de Vienne," and Chopin's "14 Waltzes," among other works.

In January, Chung Myungwhun will conduct the Dresden Staatskapelle, founded in 1548 and the oldest orchestra in the world, and in April, he will lead the One Korea Orchestra. In January, Yunchan Lim will perform Schumann's Piano Concerto, and in April, Kim Sehyun will perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Pianist Yunchan Lim
[Photo by Lotte Culture Foundation]

Pianist Sehyun Kim [Photo provided by Lotte Cultural Foundation, (c)Shinjoong Kim]

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, representing Finland, will make its first visit to Korea on October 22. Jukka-Pekka Saraste is scheduled to conduct Sibelius's symphonies. Violinist Yang Inmo, winner of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, will perform Prokofiev's Violin Concerto.

Teodor Currentzis, a conductor known for his bold and provocative interpretations, will also visit Korea for the first time. On November 17 and 18, Currentzis will perform with the Utopia Orchestra, which he founded, presenting works by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Mahler. Daniel Lozakovich will perform Shostakovich's Violin Concerto, and Alexander Melnikov will perform Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Living legends Charles Dutoit and Martha Argerich will take the stage with the KBS Symphony Orchestra on November 21 and 22. Next year, Dutoit will turn ninety and Argerich eighty-four. The two were married in 1969 and lived together for about four years. They are scheduled to perform Ravel's Piano Concerto and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," among other works.

Pianist Arta Martherych
[Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation, (c) Adriano Heitman]

In his June recital, Ray Chen will perform Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 8 and Saint-Saens's Violin Sonata No. 1 with American pianist Julio Elizalde, his musical partner of over ten years.

Lotte Concert Hall's summer classical music festival, "Classic Revolution," will take place from August 28 to September 4. Violinist Danny Koo, who led the Lotte Concert Hall's matinee concerts in the first half of this year, will hold four matinee concerts in March, May, September, and November.

The pride of Lotte Concert Hall, the "Organ Series," will also be held twice. The first performance in April will feature organist Cameron Carpenter, who performed at the hall's opening series in 2016, playing works such as Bach's "Goldberg Variations" and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." The second Organ Series concert in October will feature the organist couple Olivier Latry and Lee Shinyoung.

Lotte Concert Hall opened in August 2016 with an investment of 150 billion won from Lotte Group. It was the first concert hall dedicated to classical music to open in Seoul in 28 years, following the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in 1988. Since its opening, it has played a pivotal role in driving both the qualitative and quantitative growth of Korean classical music.

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