Gangdong-gu to Hold New Year's Concert with KBS Symphony Orchestra

On the 27th at 5 PM, featuring works by Dvo??k and Strauss... This year’s Asian premiere at Gangdong Art Center, showcasing masterpieces including plays and recitals by renowned artists

Kangdong Cultural Foundation (Chairperson Lee Soo-hee) will hold a New Year's concert welcoming the year of Gapjin 2024 with the KBS Symphony Orchestra at 5 p.m. on the 27th at the Hangang Grand Theater of Kangdong Art Center.

This New Year's concert is the first planned performance of 2024 at Kangdong Art Center and will be held together with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. The KBS Symphony Orchestra, the pride of Korean symphony orchestras and a representative orchestra of Korea, will take charge of the first performance in the 'GAC Classic' series, which consists of premium classical concerts.

They will present ▲ Dvo??k's Carnival Overture (Anton?n Dvo??k ? Carnival Overture, Op. 92), ▲ Dvo??k's Violin Concerto in A minor (Anton?n Dvo??k ? Violin Concerto in a minor Op. 53), and ▲ Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie (Alpine Symphony, Op. 64).

Shim Woo-seop, CEO of Kangdong Cultural Foundation, said, “Starting with the New Year's concert, Kangdong Art Center will present a variety of high-quality performances, exhibitions, and cultural arts programs including special premieres in 2024. We ask for your great interest in the New Year's concert that marks the vibrant beginning of Kangdong Art Center in the year of Gapjin 2024, and also in the planned programs prepared this year.”

Detailed information about the New Year's concert can be found on the Kangdong Cultural Foundation website, and inquiries can be made through the Kangdong Cultural Foundation Performance and Exhibition Team.

Regarding the KBS Symphony Orchestra, it was founded in 1956 and has led the development of classical music in Korea through high-quality performances. Starting with the first permanent conductor Im Won-sik, the orchestra has been led by world-class conductors such as Hong Yeon-taek, Won Kyung-soo, Otmar M?ga, Chung Myung-whun, Dmitri Kitayenko, and Yoel Levi. In 2022, Pietari Inkinen was appointed as the 9th music director, preparing the orchestra to leap beyond Korea to become a world-class symphony orchestra.

In 2012, it was newly launched as a foundation with a professional arts management system and has firmly established itself as Korea's representative symphony orchestra.

Pietari Inkinen has been the 9th music director of the KBS Symphony Orchestra since 2022. Inkinen, from Finland, has served as principal conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie since 2017 and recently extended his term until June 2025.

He also served as principal conductor of the Japan Philharmonic from 2016 to 2023. He has been praised by the UK classical magazine Gramophone for his “captivating sound arising from natural musicianship,” conducted “Die Walk?re” at the Bayreuth Festival in 2021, and is known as a Wagner specialist who conducted the entire Ring Cycle in 2023.

The soloist Josef ?pa?ek is recognized as one of the finest contemporary violinists with astonishingly diverse tonal colors, confidence and charisma on stage, excellent technique and composure, and a beautiful tone. Critics have highly praised ?pa?ek’s “amazing expressiveness and dynamism” (The Scotsman) and “rich tone and intensity” (The Telegraph) demonstrated in his broad repertoire. From January 2016 to the 2019/20 season, he was selected as an associate artist of the Czech Philharmonic and has since focused on his career as a soloist.