Conductor Kim Eun-sun (left) acknowledges the audience's applause after leading a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Philharmonie Berlin in Berlin, Germany. On the right is Japanese violinist and orchestra member Daishin Kashimoto. (Philharmonic's official Facebook account)

By Koh Hyunjeong

Conductor Kim Eun-sun is the first Asian woman to lead the world's top symphony orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic of Germany, and the second Korean to do so after Chung Myung-whun.

From April 18-20, Kim took up the baton at the orchestra's concert hall Philharmonie Berlin for regular concerts and performed Schoenberg's opera "Erwartung" and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3.

In an interview with a Korean media outlet, Kim shared her struggle to prepare for her historic performance. "I feel like I've been constantly studying except when I'm sleeping and eating, thinking how in the world to explain as the conductor to the people sitting in front of me and the orchestra members, who know the music 250 times better than I do."

At around 140 years old, the conservative orchestra hired last year its first female music director.

Kim in July will perform Rachmaninoff with the Seoul Philharmonic for Korean audiences.

hjkoh@korea.kr