Seong-Jin Cho Collaborates Successively with Vienna Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

This fall is filled with the piano melodies of Seong-Jin Cho (30).

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho will perform consecutive collaboration stages with world-renowned orchestras in October and November. In October, he will perform with the Vienna Philharmonic, and in November, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The world-famous conductors Andris Nelsons (46) and Sir Simon Rattle (69) will join him.

The Vienna Philharmonic will visit Korea in October for three performances (23rd, 25th, and 26th). Seong-Jin Cho will perform on the 25th at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall and on the 26th at the Lotte Concert Hall. They will collaborate on Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho [Photo provided by Vincero, (c) Christoph Koestlin]

The conductor will be the renowned Latvian maestro Andris Nelsons. Nelsons is a direct disciple of the late conducting master Mariss Jansons, who passed away in 2019, and currently serves as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In 2020, he attracted attention by conducting the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year's Concert, a stage reserved for the top conductors of the era.

Last year, Nelsons led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra on their first visit to Korea and collaborated with Seong-Jin Cho, performing Schumann's Piano Concerto. Seong-Jin Cho also first collaborated with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2022 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and this will be their second collaboration.

After the collaboration with Seong-Jin Cho, the Vienna Philharmonic will perform Richard Strauss's symphonic poem "Ein Heldenleben" in the second half of the concert. On the 23rd, the orchestra will collaborate with Japanese violinist Midori on Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 and perform Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

In November, Seong-Jin Cho will collaborate with another maestro, Sir Simon Rattle. On November 20th and 21st at the Lotte Concert Hall, he will perform with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. On the 20th, they will perform Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2, and on the 21st, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Besides the collaboration with Seong-Jin Cho, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform Brahms's Symphony No. 2 on the 20th, and on the 21st, they will perform six pieces for orchestra by modern composer Anton Webern and Bruckner's Symphony No. 9.

Sir Simon Rattle, who will conduct, succeeded Mariss Jansons and took office as the chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra starting from the 2023?2024 season. Previously, he served as the chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 2002 to 2018 and as the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2023. He was knighted in 1994 for his contributions to cultural development.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra plans to perform in Japan and Taiwan following Korea, and Seong-Jin Cho will participate as the sole soloist on the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s Asia tour.