Conductor Chung Myung-whun and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra opened Seoul’s newest classical music venue last Friday with a rousing concert.

Part of the Lotte Group’s CSR efforts, the Lotte Concert Hall is the first new classical venue to open in Seoul since the state-run Seoul Arts Center opened 28 years ago.

The opening concert program consisted of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 Op. 72a; “Le Chant des Enfants des Etoiles (The Song of the Children of the Stars),” a new piece composed by SPO composer-in-residence Chin Un-suk; and Saint Saens’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 “Organ.”

Located on the 8th floor of the Lotte World Mall in southeastern Seoul, the hall is run by the Lotte Foundation for Arts, which was launched in September with 20 billion won ($17.9 million) -- 10 billion won of which came from Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s personal wealth.

The 2,036 seat concert hall -- 500 less than the Seoul Arts Center -- was designed by Japanese acoustics consulting firm Nagata Acoustics, responsible for the Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. 

There was no fanfare on the opening night; Lotte Group’s controlling family is currently mired in a messy legal debacle and Shin was noticeably absent at the inaugural concert.

Chung reunited with SPO

Friday’s concert was the first time Chung led the SPO since stepping down eight months ago after a decade as its music director amid a scandal involving former SPO CEO Park Hyun-jung’s alleged mistreatment and sexual harassment of SPO employees.

Critics lauded SPO’s performance on Friday for the spirited rendition of Beethoven’s Lenore Overture No. 3 and the Saint Saens symphony. Chung is a renowned interpreter of French composers, especially Saint Saens, and the piece was obviously chosen to highlight the new concert hall’s impressive Rieger pipe organ, which has 4,958 pipes and 68 stops, from Austria.

Friday night’s concert also saw the world premiere of award-winning composer Chin’s new piece, commissioned by Lotte for the occasion. The 40-minute piece, a “musical and poetic reflection on natural phenomena and on our physical relationship with the cosmos,” according to Chin, is a mystical song that incorporates the pipe organ, celesta, chimes and thunder sheet for a “heavenly” sound. The National Chorus of Korea and the Academy Boys Choir of National Chorus of Korea participated as vocalists. 

After minutes of standing ovation, Chung and the SPO reciprocated by performing North Korean composer Choi Sung-hwan’s “Arirang Fantasy” and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 1. Chung, who had led the joint performance of “Arirang Fantasy” by Radio France Orchestre and North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra in a historic concert in Paris in 2012, noted that the piece had never been performed in South Korea.

The Lotte Concert Hall will be hosting over 20 concerts until December to celebrate its opening. Conductor Lim Hun-joung and the Korean Symphony Orchestra will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” on Aug. 25 and 27. On Aug. 29 and 31, Italy’s Orchestra Teatro alla Scala and Chorus Teatro alla Scala will be performing in Korea for the first time since 1988, led by Chung.

September will see the Jean Guillou Pipe Organ Recital and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Orchestra perform at the Lotte Concert Hall. In November, Chung is scheduled to return with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)