South Korea to host nine foreign orchestras by the end of 2026
South Korea is scheduled to host performances by nine foreign orchestras from September through December 2026, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic. Concerts will take place in Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Bucheon, Daegu and Daejeon. As The Korea Herald reports, Korean soloists Seong-Jin Cho, Yekwon Sunwoo, Clara-Jumi Kang, Inmo Yang and Yunchan Lim will take part in the performances.
Concerts in September and October
On September 11, the Luxembourg Philharmonic will perform at the Seoul Arts Center for the first time in three years. The ensemble will be conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, while Spanish violinist María Dueñas will perform Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto. Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 is also included in the program.
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra will visit Korea for the first time as part of celebrations marking its centenary and the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Estonia and Korea. On September 22 in Seoul, under the baton of Olari Elts, the orchestra and pianist Yekwon Sunwoo will perform Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Tõnu Kõrvits’s Hymns to the Aurora and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. At the September 20 concert in Bucheon, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 will be performed instead of the Schumann concerto.
The Estonian Festival Orchestra, led by Paavo Järvi, will perform in Incheon on October 18 and at the Seoul Arts Center on October 20. Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang will take part in the concerts, and the program will combine music by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Brahms and Sibelius. The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will make its Korean debut from October 20 to 22 with performances in Daegu, Daejeon and Seoul; violinist Inmo Yang will be the soloist.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Concerts at the end of the year
The Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, will give concerts in Seoul on October 25 and in Busan on October 26. Pianist Seong-Jin Cho will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 will conclude the program.
On November 8, Yunchan Lim will perform with The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop at the Seoul Arts Center. The pianist will again perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the work whose performance under Alsop brought him victory at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition.
Sir Simon Rattle will bring the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra to Seoul on November 12 and 13. On the first evening, the musicians will perform Franz Schubert’s Great Symphony in C major and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, while the following day they will perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with soprano Lucy Crowe, the National Chorus of Korea and the Seoul Motet Choir.
On November 17 and 18, conductor Teodor Currentzis will perform at Lotte Concert Hall with the Utopia orchestra, which he founded in 2022. Together with violinist Daniel Lozakovich, the ensemble will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto, as well as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. The BBC Philharmonic will conclude the year: on December 12, the orchestra conducted by John Storgårds will perform at Seoul’s Sejong Center for the first time in 11 years.
