Kim Seohyun, Han Jaemin, and Lee Hyunjung on Stage This Month
Teen prodigy performers dominated the stages of major New Year concerts in 2025.
Teen soloists will perform as featured collaborators in the first New Year concerts of Korea’s leading orchestras: the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Seoul Philharmonic), KBS Symphony Orchestra, and Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Seoul Philharmonic will collaborate with violinist Kim Seohyun, born in 2008, at the New Year concert held on the 10th at the Sejong Center Grand Theater. Kim Seohyun will perform Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.
Kim Seohyun has recently won a series of international competitions. She won the 2021 Eug?ne Ysa?e International Music Competition and the Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition, and in 2022, she set the record as the youngest winner ever at the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition held in Oberlin, USA. In 2023, at the age of 14, she became the youngest winner in history of the prestigious Tibor Varga International Competition in Switzerland.
Besides the collaboration with Kim Seohyun, the Seoul Philharmonic will perform Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 “Italian,” Johann Strauss II’s operetta “Die Fledermaus” Overture, and “The Blue Danube.”
Cellist Han Jaemin, born in 2006, will appear consecutively on the stages of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic New Year concert on the 19th at the Gyeonggi Arts Center Grand Theater and the KBS Symphony Orchestra’s first regular concert of the year on the 24th at Lotte Concert Hall. Han will perform Saint-Sa?ns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Gyeonggi Philharmonic and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. The conductor for the collaboration with the KBS Symphony Orchestra is the Israeli maestro Eliahu Inbal. At 89 years old this year, Inbal’s age difference with Han Jaemin is a remarkable 70 years.
Han Jaemin gained global attention by becoming the youngest ever winner of the 2021 George Enescu Competition. He also won the 2022 Isang Yun International Competition.
In addition to the collaboration with Han Jaemin, the Gyeonggi Philharmonic will perform Dvo??k’s “Carnival Overture” and Symphony No. 9, while the KBS Symphony Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Bart?k’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”
The Mapo Cultural Foundation will also feature violinist Lee Hyunjung, born in 2010, as a soloist at the New Year concert held on the 18th at Mapo Art Center Art Hall Mac. Lee Hyunjung will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the KBS Symphony Orchestra conducted by former Wonju City Philharmonic Orchestra chief conductor Kim Kwanghyun.
Lee Hyunjung set the record as the youngest ever recipient in the violin category by winning second place at the George Enescu International Competition last September. She also swept the Audience Award and the Best Performance of the Required Piece Award at that time.
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