Seoul and Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province) will play host to a special classical music festival starting on January 15 to please the ears of classical music lovers for half a month. 

The Seoul International Music Festival, kicking off under the title of “Harmony & Innovation,” will bring together world renowned musicians from Poland, Finland, Japan and elsewhere, as well as musicians from home.

The participating musicians will show off their musical talent and together generate harmonious sounds during the festival's 15-day run.



The Wien-Berlin Brass Quintet, comprised of five brass players from the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, will open the 15-day festival when they appear at the Seoungnam Arts Center in Gyeonggi-do and then at the Seoul Arts Center in Seoul on January 15 and 16, respectively.

The five brass players will show off their repertoire of masterpieces, from Malcolm Arnold and Gabriel Faure to Astor Piazzolla.



Concerts on January 22 to 24 are at three different venues: the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Center, the Yongin Poeun Art Hall, both in Gyeonggi-do, and the Gangdong Arts Center in Seoul. They will feature Finland’s finest chamber orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta.

Under the baton of Finnish conductor Ralf Gothoni, orchestral sounds will be merged in harmony with tunes from a violin and a cello played by sisters Baek Joo-young and Baek Na-young.

The ensemble will play Sibelius’ “Sad Waltz,” Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” and Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.

On January 25, the Seoul Arts Center will be showered with chamber music. Agata Szymczewska, a Polish violinist who was selected as Best Player at the recent Ludwig Van Beethoven Easter Festival, one of Europe’s three representative musical festivals, will collaborate with eight other top-class string players in a show titled “Agata Szymczewska with Ensemble OPUS.” Violinist Kwon Hyuk-joo and violist Kim Sang-jin will join the Polish violinist, too.

The group will present Dohnanyi’s “Serenade for String Trio,” Schumann’s “Piano Quintet” and Mendelssohn’s “String Octet.”



The highlight will be a concert by musicians from both Korea and Japan at the Seoul Arts Center on January 31. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, musicians from both countries will come together at the venue for a joint performance.

The Korea-Japan United Orchestra, led by Japanese conductor Ishikawa Seitaro, will perform “The Name of The Rose,” a prelude composed by Ryu Jea-joon that has been widely played in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

Violinist Kwon Hyuk-joo, and Japanese cellist Tsukimoto Rei will then play Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. Lastly, the orchestra will wrap up the festival, sending a message of unity and peace for the two countries, as they play Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: the organizing committee of the Seoul International Music Festival 2015
jiae5853@korea.kr