🎶 From Mahler's 'Symphony of a Thousand' to 11-Year-Old Seong-Jin Cho's Legendary Performance! - 2026.05.21 | Classical Music

Hello, classical music fans! 🎶 Your '음악의노예' is back this week with a bunch of heart-pounding classical news! We've prepared everything from grand orchestra updates to hidden stories of maestros and a legendary video of a great pianist's childhood that will give you goosebumps. Grab a warm cup of coffee and stay tuned until the end! 💖

🎻 The Overwhelming Feast of the 'Symphony of a Thousand' and the Bond of Two Conductors

Do you happen to like Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8? Two conductors have boldly challenged this massive piece, often called the 'Symphony of a Thousand' because it requires hundreds of musicians and choir members! They are Soo-Yeol Choi, Artistic Director of the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra, and Seok-Won Hong, Principal Guest Conductor of the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra ^[1]. What's really fun is that these two are 'debut peers' who debuted on the exact same day at a concert in Jeju Island in November 2005 ^[1]. As college students back then, they shared a two-person room and rejoiced over receiving their very first performance fee of 600,000 won ^[1]. They went to different schools and cheer for different baseball teams (Lotte vs. Doosan), but the fact that they are now climbing the giant mountain of Mahler's 8th side-by-side 20 years later feels just like a movie, doesn't it?

Conductor Seok-Won Hong grew up listening to Mahler because his mother was a cellist in the Bucheon Philharmonic ^[1]. Hilariously, during the 2002 World Cup match against Italy, he skipped his mother's Mahler concert to go cheer for soccer ^[1]. He will perform this piece with the Busan Philharmonic next month on June 18th at the Busan Concert Hall ^[1]. On the other hand, for Conductor Soo-Yeol Choi, Mahler is a composer associated with a 'trauma' from when he stepped in as a substitute for Conductor Myung-Whun Chung and felt unsatisfied with his performance ^[1]. Perhaps that's why he is taking on a unique challenge of performing Mahler's symphonies in reverse chronological order, and he plans to conduct Symphony No. 8 with the Incheon Philharmonic on September 5th ^[1]. My heart is already pounding to see how Mahler's unique internal and dramatic emotions will explode from the fingertips of these two conductors! 🤩

🏛️ Hot Issues in the Busan Classical Scene, Crisis and Opportunity!

However, there is some slightly unfortunate news for fans of the Busan Philharmonic. The orchestra has been experiencing a vacancy in the artistic director position for over half a year since last September ^[2]. Conductor Seok-Won Hong, who was appointed last year, resigned to take a professorship at Seoul National University, and the appointment of a successor has been delayed due to overlapping issues like ordinance revisions ^[2]. Ultimately, Conductor Hong will step down from his role as Principal Guest Conductor after the Mahler performance on the 18th of next month, and it is highly likely that the July concert will be prepared under the system of Deputy Conductor Seung-Hyun Baek ^[2]. We hope a wonderful artistic director arrives soon to stably lead the performances in the second half of the year! 🙏

But there is also massive good news coming from Busan! Discussions are underway to invite Italy's legendary opera house, 'La Scala', for a performance to commemorate the opening of the Busan Opera House ^[3]. If they bring in the world's highest-level opera system for the opening performance, what better promotion and quality assurance could there be? ^[3]. As a fan, I'm praying earnestly with both hands that we might get to see world-class stages in Korea along with the development of the local art scene! ✨

📜 Footsteps of Maestros and the Childhood of a Legendary Pianist

This week, there was also a column that makes you think deeply about the lives and social responsibilities of artists. It highlighted the story of Herbert von Karajan, who made unavoidable choices to become the conductor of the Aachen Opera House under Hitler's dictatorship during the war crimes trials, and the political steps of Italy's Maurizio Pollini, a Chopin Competition winner and legendary performer ^[4]. Knowing the choices these maestros made during historical turbulence will add another layer of depth to how you listen to their music ^[4].

Lastly, I brought a legendary video that will make you doubt your eyes and ears! It's a performance video of pianist Seong-Jin Cho when he was just 11 years old ^[5]. He is playing Franz Liszt's 'Rigoletto Paraphrase'. This piece is based on a quartet from Verdi's opera and boasts extreme difficulty, requiring the pianist to express complex narratives like a father's tragedy of losing his daughter and human deception on a single piano ^[5]. However, my jaw literally dropped seeing an 11-year-old boy not only showing off brilliant technique but also perfectly grasping the heavy emotional lines of the piece and pouring them onto the keyboard 😱 ^[5]. It's said to have given both awe and despair to countless piano majors! It's a performance that proves with his whole body why he was called a 'genius' from such a young age, so you must check it out yourself! 🎹

That's all for this week's news! The charm of classical music seems endless, doesn't it? I hope you all succeed in getting the concert tickets you want, and I'll see you next week with more fun and informative news! 🎵