Following a landmark win at Seoul’s inaugural international piano competition two decades ago, Israeli-native and longtime Seoul National University music professor Aviram Reichert continues to leave his mark in the local classical music scene.

“I moved to Korea in 2009 to assume the position as a professor at Seoul National University, but what first brought me here, it all started in 1996,” Reichert told The Korea Herald on Thursday.

“That was the year they had Seoul’s first international piano competition (the Dong-A International Piano Competition) and at that time I was a young competitor at the age of 26,” he continued. “And it was my first time in Korea. Actually, a lot of ‘firsts’ happened in my life at that time, including winning the competition’s first prize.”

After winning the highly publicized competition, the pianist was frequently invited to perform concerts in Korea. And when he decided he needed a change of scenery after several years teaching in Michigan, he packed his bags and chose to make his return to Seoul a more permanent one. 

“It’s like I have come full circle,” he said. “If you want to talk about a story of destiny, this is a good one to mention.”

“I’ve seen this country growing so much in stages,” he continued, recalling the time when the Seoul Arts Center was shining brand new, and the nearby Seocho Station hadn’t even existed. “Like an uncle visiting a faraway niece, every time you see her she grows and looks even more beautiful and more mature.”

On Saturday, Reichert will be performing a free concert at the Yamaha Artist Services Seoul concert hall, across from the Seoul Arts Center, as part of the “2016 Yamaha Grand Piano Fair” piano recital series. The concert will feature works from two composers seemingly at opposite ends of the spectrum: Franz Schubert and Cesar Franck.

“Usually you don’t perform those two composers together because it’s almost like there is no commonality, but in fact there is,” Reichert explained. 

“From a compositional point of view, Schubert is the most romantic classical composer,” he added. “And Franck is the most postromantic romantic composer. These two composers are unique because both of them have one leg in two different (musical) periods and they often shift between classical and romantic.”

During his tenure in Seoul, the pianist has witnessed a change in the city’s classical music scene like never before -- a change that makes him excited for the future of Korea’s arts community and his musical ambitions. 

“Seoul’s environment is very different now, every night you have four, five, six orchestra concerts and 10, 20 recitals. The concert halls are full of people and the vibe is just growing more and more,” said Reichert.

“There’s this energy that the city has that makes me feel like I need to be a part of it, whether I’m playing or I’m listening, or I’m practicing to play or I’m teaching. My life has changed completely because of this environment. I owe a big ‘thank you’ to this city.” 

For more information on the upcoming Yamaha Grand Piano Fair performances, visit http://kr.yamaha.com.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)