Seoul International Music Festival hopes to be ‘Amusement Park’ of classical music

The thirteenth Seoul International Music Festival

The thirteenth Seoul International Music Festival, one of many main annual classical music festivals held each autumn in Korea, will happen in October beneath the title “Amusement Park.”

The competition will happen throughout Seoul, together with the Seoul Arts Center and the Lotte Concert Hall, Oct. 23-30, hoping to supply pleasure and luxury to classical music audiences hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the worldwide music scene continues to wrestle amid the virus disaster, this yr’s SIMF will characteristic new repertoires, presenting three new commissioned works: Nam Sang-bong’s “Mysterious Amusement Park,” Bach-Ryu Jea-joon’s Concertante for 12 cellos, and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires organized by James Barralet.

The competition will kick off with a gap live performance “Ring Ring Ring,” presenting Artistic Director Ryu Jae-joon’s new work Symphony No. 2.

The 75-minute symphony was impressed by Ryu’s nephews and nieces who couldn’t go to high school frequently because of the pandemic. Ryu additionally took inspiration from sonnets written by Shakespeare from when he was remoted because of an outbreak of the bubonic plague.

Though the symphony piece was written amid the pandemic instances — when small sized chamber music grew to become the norm as a substitute of enormous orchestral performances — the work includes a full orchestra, a number of vocalists and a choir.

The competition may also give three chamber music performances, every titled “From Deep Forest,” “Water of Brook” and “Mysterious Amusement Park,” presenting works by Schumann, Debussy, Brahms, Strauss and extra.

The competition will shut with the “Merry-Go-Round” recital, that includes 12 cellists. The cellists — Song Young, Arto Noras, Dmitry Kouzov, Maja Bogdanovic and extra — will current well-known signature cello repertoires in a grander model. The cellists will take turns onstage like a merry-go-round, presenting Klengel’s Hymnus fur 12 Celli, Op. 57, Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for cellos and soprano, together with extra works. Soprano Lee Myung-joo will be a part of the stage.

Tickets for the competition will open on Wednesday.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)

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