Rising young pianist Cho Seong-jin will be featured in the upcoming Seoul concert of Sir Simon Rattle and his Berliner Philharmoniker in the November concert in Seoul.

Cho will be replacing Lang Lang, who was to join the renowned English conductor but pulled out due to injury.

“Following Lang Lang’s cancellation for the tour, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon discussed possible program changes and substitutes with the presenters,” the orchestra said. 

“In mutual agreement also with Kumho, who proposed him, all parties decided to engage Seongjin Cho (Cho Seong-jin) as replacement for Lang Lang for the concerts in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Seoul. This also includes the change to Ravel’s piano concerto in G Major.”

Cho‘s Berlin concert on Nov. 4 will be the first time the young pianist will take the stage with Berliner Philharmoniker

For the rest of the Asia tour -- held at Tokyo along with Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shanghai -- Chinese pianist Yuja Wang will accompany the Berliner Philharmoniker.

”I am honored and happy to play with Berliner Philharmoniker. I would like to thank everyone who helped to play (at the tour), especially Maestro Simon Rattle,“ said Cho. ”But above all, I wish a speedy recovery for Lang Lang.“

The upcoming concert would mark a major break for the 23-year-old up-and-coming musician.

He has made a name for himself on the international stage since late 2000s by participating in major competitions. This includes coming in third at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011 and Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2014.

Most notably, he won the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015.

Rattle, who would become the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra from September 2017, rose to international fame in the 1980s and 1990s. He has been the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmoniker since 2002, and is slated to leave his post in 2018.

The upcoming Seoul concert will be the sixth time the world-famous orchestra will perform in the Seoul, having first held a concert here in 1984 with the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan.

It will be held at Nov. 19-20 at Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The Nov. 19 concert will be held at 5 p.m. and Nov. 20 performance will be at 8 p.m.

The tickets cost between 70,000 won and 450,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call (02) 6303-1977.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)