Programme:
Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony for String Orchestra, Op. 4
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3. in G major, K 216, “Straßburg”
Jung Jae-Min: Urban Arirang
Wolfgang Amadus Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K 550

The Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 2003 with the artistic vision of providing its home city with a broad range of cultural events and becoming one of South Korea’s representative orchestras. Its artistic director and chief conductor is the highly experienced Nanse Gum, who graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts in 1977 and was the first Korean to win the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award. Since his appointment as chief conductor in 2015, the orchestra has greatly expanded its annual calendar of concerts. The first part of the programme will consist of a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony,  based on eight themes the composer wrote as a boy. This will be followed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3,  nicknamed “Straßburg”  because of allusions to a local dance in the third movement. The soloist part will be interpreted by violinist Maria Solozobova, who combines virtuosity with creative spontaneity. We will also hear a composition by Jung Jae-Min, whose music explores stories connected to contemporary South Korean culture. The Korean instrument haegeum will be played by Min Jio, who frequently performs with specialised ensembles devoted to this traditional string instrument, such as the Korean Haegeum Ensemble and the Haegeum Research Society. The evening will end with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor,  a work in which we can hear the germ of a Beethovenian sense of fate.

• in 2017 Nanse Gum became the honorary consul of Slovakia
• the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra appeared under conductor Nanse Gum at the 58th Ljubljana Festival in 2010 and the 67th Ljubljana Festival in 2019
• violinist Maria Solozobova plays an Italian violin made by Nicolò Gagliano in 1728
• Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony  can be heard in the Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom  (2012)
• Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K 550)  is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s best known orchestral work