Violinist Kavakos Appointed as New Artistic Director
To Conduct at the Closing Concert on September 3
On June 16, the Lotte Cultural Foundation announced that it will host "Classic Revolution 2025" from August 28 to September 3.
Classic Revolution is a summer classical music festival presented by the Lotte Cultural Foundation since 2020. This year, world-renowned violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos will take on the role of artistic director for the first time and lead the festival.
The theme proposed by Artistic Director Kavakos for this year’s festival is "Spectrum," with the subtitle "From Bach to Shostakovich." He emphasizes, "Music is a language that transcends time and emotion. Just as Bach’s structure and Shostakovich’s anguish represent different eras, music from each period tells the truth in its own way." Bach and Shostakovich symbolize a single prism connecting two pillars of classical music history.
Johann Sebastian Bach is well known for representing musical order based on the essence of counterpoint and theological ideals, while Dmitri Shostakovich is recognized as a composer who expressed the ethics of art and humanity through music, even under political oppression. During his lifetime, Shostakovich deeply studied Bach’s "The Art of Fugue" and "The Well-Tempered Clavier," and through his own "24 Preludes and Fugues," he carried forward Bach’s spirit into the 20th century.
Leonidas Kavakos Classic Revolution Artistic Director [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation (c)Marco Borggreve]
Artistic Director Kavakos will also perform as a musician, taking the stage five times during the festival. At the opening concert on August 28, he will collaborate with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto, and at the closing concert on September 3, he will conduct the KBS Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15.
The Lotte Cultural Foundation highlighted that the duo concert featuring Artistic Director Kavakos and violinist Yang Inmo with the Apollon Ensemble on August 31 will be one of the highlights of Classic Revolution 2025. The Apollon Ensemble, founded by Kavakos, is especially acclaimed for its exceptional interpretation of early music.
Artistic Director Kavakos, Yang Inmo, and the Apollon Ensemble will perform Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins. This piece, affectionately known as the "Double Concerto," is a representative work in which two violins engage in a fully equal dialogue, allowing each musician’s individuality and interpretation to shine through.
Both Kavakos and Yang Inmo are outstanding violinists who share the distinction of winning both the Sibelius International Violin Competition and the Paganini Competition. Kavakos won the Sibelius Competition in 1985, while Yang Inmo won the same competition in 2022. Additionally, Kavakos won the Paganini Competition in 1988, and Yang Inmo claimed victory there in 2015.
Before the concert on August 31, the Apollon Ensemble will perform the complete Brandenburg Concertos by Bach on August 29.
Classic Revolution 2025 will present a well-balanced program of orchestral performances and highly immersive chamber music stages. The works of Bach and Shostakovich, the two composers at the heart of this year’s festival, each shine brightest in the forms of chamber music and orchestra, respectively.
Bach’s music reveals the beauty of contrapuntal order and structure most clearly in the intimate setting of chamber music, coming alive through each performer’s interpretation and interaction. In contrast, Shostakovich’s symphonies and concertos, performed by large orchestras, dynamically and vividly capture the tension of the times, human anguish, and the layers of collective emotion.
The Lotte Cultural Foundation also announced that, in addition to the performances, it will offer a variety of engaging programs such as master classes by the artists, providing audiences with rich opportunities for connection and appreciation.
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