Held from August 6 to 11
The Seoul Arts Center announced on the 15th that it will hold the '2024 Seoul Arts Center International Music Festival' from August 6 to 11 at the Concert Hall, IBK Chamber Hall, and Recital Hall. The 'Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival,' which has been held since 2021 in collaboration with the Korea Performing Arts Management Association, will be renamed as an international music festival this year, seeking a new leap forward.
Maestro Dan Ettinger, who serves as the music director of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and the Tel Aviv Israel Opera, will conduct the opening and closing performances. Ettinger will make his Korean debut at the International Music Festival.
The SAC Festival Orchestra will perform alongside Ettinger for the opening and closing concerts. The SAC Festival Orchestra is primarily composed of Korean musicians active in leading orchestras overseas. The concertmaster for the opening performance will be Moon Barani, principal second violin of the WDR Symphony, and the concertmaster for the closing performance will be Lee Ji-hye, a professor in the instrumental music department at Korea National University of Arts. The opening concert will feature Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 'Romantic,' and the closing concert will present Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherazade' as orchestral pieces.
A variety of solo recitals and chamber music performances will also be prepared.
The Dutch national duo, pianists Lucas Jussen and Arthur Jussen, known for their beautiful melodies, will return to the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall stage for the first time in 10 years since their debut performance in Korea in 2014. The Jussen brothers will perform Poulenc's 'Concerto for Two Pianos' at the opening concert and present a duo recital on August 7, the day after the opening. The duo recital will include Rachmaninoff's 'Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos,' as well as works by Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, and Beatman.
British pianist Imogen Cooper (August 8) will perform Beethoven's late piano sonatas Nos. 30 to 32. Dutch world-renowned cellist Pieter Wispelwey (August 10) will perform all six of Bach's unaccompanied cello suites. Julius Asal, a young German pianist recently gaining attention on the international stage for his sweet and distinctive melodies, will present his first solo recital in Korea on August 10, featuring works by Scriabin, Scarlatti, Brahms, and his own compositions.
Lucas Yusen and Arthur Yusen brothers [Photo provided by Seoul Arts Center, Photo by Marco Borggreve]
The chamber music performance will be graced by the Arete Quartet (August 9), which won first place and five special awards at this year's Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, becoming the first Korean ensemble to do so. The Arete Quartet has a special connection with the Seoul Arts Center International Music Festival, having been selected in the first 'Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival' competition and performed on its stage. They will perform Jan??ek's String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2, and Bart?k's String Quartet No. 5.
Baritone-turned-tenor vocalist Baek Seok-jong, active on the New York Metropolitan Opera stage, will join the closing performance. He will perform arias such as 'The Princess is Sleepless' from the opera 'Turandot' and 'Pure Aida' from 'Aida.'
In addition, seven teams selected through a highly competitive application process with a ratio of 23 to 1 will take the stage.
Baritone Kim Tae-han, who made headlines as the youngest winner in the vocal category at last year's Queen Elisabeth Competition, will perform a duo recital with baritone Park Joo-sung, accompanied by pianist Ilya Rashkovsky, a professor at Sungshin Women's University. The stage of 'Korean Horn Sound,' consisting of nine horn players including hornist Kim Hong-bak from Seoul National University, will also attract attention. Other performances include solo recitals by violinist Wi Jae-won, pianist Park Yeon-min, and guitarist Ahn Yong-hyun, as well as performances by the string quartet Abel Quartet and the woodwind quintet Troy Ensemble.
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