School of Music Presents the 78^th Subscription Concert for Its 30^th Anniversary

At 8 p.m. on 5 October at the Lotte Concert Hall, the School of Music gives the 78^th KNUA Symphony Orchestra Subscription Concert to celebrate the school’s 30^th anniversary. The KNUA Symphony Orchestra was established in 1993 and is composed of the current Department of Instrumental Music students. Since then, it has held concerts in and outside the country every year.

In this concert, honorary professor Chung Chi-yong, South Korea’s leading conductor and winner of the Austrian Minister of Culture Award, will guide the orchestra. Soprano and professor Seo Sunyong, a winner of many world-renowned competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition, Maria Callas Grand Prix, and Viñas International Competition, and mezzo-soprano Kim Hyang-eun, a K-Arts graduate, who is active on the global opera stages, will join the orchestra.

The “Nebula” will be premiered for the opening of the concert. Composer Kim Shin, a K-Arts alumnus, wrote the piece to commemorate a monumental year of the School of Music. Kim Shin, who is pursuing a master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in the UK, acquired a bachelor’s degree from the School of Music. He obtained global attention by winning the George Enescu International Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition in 2022. The event will be a special occasion for relishing the music born from the collaboration between the rising composer and his colleagues from the School of Music.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection,” the composer’s representative work that enjoyed great success, will highlight the event. Like his other works, it features a large orchestra composed of wind ensembles. As it is a grandiose epic made up of soprano and alto solos and mixed choirs, Professor Seo Sunyong takes the soprano solo, and Kim Hyang-eun the alto solo. The KNUA Grand Choir consisting of the current students of the Departments of Vocal Music and Choir Conducting will perform, elevating the anticipation for their harmonious singing that will fill the concert hall.