Berliner Philharmoniker, Sunwook Kim & Sakari Oramo
Biographie Berliner Philharmoniker, Sunwook Kim & Sakari Oramo
Unsuk Chin
She succeeds in doing what only a few in her field do: Unsuk Chin draws inspiration from the different spheres of European and Asian musical culture, and from this develops a style of composition that is as personal as it is global. The Korean composer, who has lived in Berlin since 1988, is as far from thinking in personal stylistic categories as she is from orientating herself towards historical terms: “When we listen to contemporary music, it’s no use thinking in pigeonholes – modern, postmodern, traditional, etc. – they are all generalisations.”
Unsuk Chin was born in Seoul in 1961 as the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman and a teacher, and received her first theoretical and practical music lessons from her father at the age of four. After intensive work on her own, she was accepted to study composition at Seoul National University, where she eventually joined the class of Sukhi Kang. From 1985 to 1988, Chin studied under György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Winning first prize at the Gaudeamus Competition in Amsterdam in 1985 marked the beginning of her international career: “I was the only woman, the only Asian and the youngest participant.” Since then, her works have been performed by leading orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Kent Nagano, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert, Sakari Oramo and Myung-Whun Chung.
In 2004, Unsuk Chin was honoured with the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for her violin concerto, in 2005 the Arnold Schönberg Prize and in 2007 the Heidelberger Künstlerinnenpreis. The same year, her opera Alice in Wonderland after Lewis Carroll had its successful premiere at Bayerische Staatsoper. From 2006 to 2018, Chin led the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Music Series, which she founded, and since 2011 she has been artistic director of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Music of Today series in London.
Sunwook Kim
came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of some of the world’s leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Berlin Radio Symphony, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Finnish Radio Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Orchestra of Wales, Radio-France Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for his BBC Proms debut in Summer 2014. Conductor collaborations include with Karina Canellakis, Nathalie Stutzmann, Thomas Sondergard, Tugan Sokhiev, Daniel Harding, Paavo Jarvi, David Afhkam, Edward Gardner, John Elliot Gardiner, Myung-Whun Chung, Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Karabits, Marek Janowski, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Manze, Vassily Sinaisky, Paavo Järvi, Michael Sanderling, Yuri Bashmet and Sir Mark Elder.
Recital highlights to date include regular appearances at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London International Piano Series), in the ‘Piano 4 Etoiles’ series at the Philharmonie de Paris and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Piano aux Jacobin Festival, AIX Festival, La Roque d’Antheron International Piano Festival (France) as well as at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall Osaka and Seoul Arts Centre. Sunwook is also a keen chamber musician and has collaborated with singers.
As soloist in the 2022/23 season, Sunwook returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Tianyi Lu), London Symphony Orchestra (Michael Tilson Thomas), Chamber Orchestra of Europe to tour South Korea as well as to the Seoul Philharmonic in their tour of Europe (Concertgebouw, Cadogan Hall). Sunwook will also return to Bournemouth Symphony both as soloist (Karabits) and to conduct Dvorak’s Cello Concerto alongside Brahms Symphony No. 2. Sunwook’s return to the Bournemouth Symphony as conductor follows his instant success having made his play-direct debut with the orchestra and international conducting debut with the KBS Symphony only last season. In August 2022, Sunwook also had the honour to conduct the Seoul Philharmonic in their National Liberation Day Concert marking the 77th anniversary of Korea’s National Liberation Day. Further conducting debuts this season include with the Fundación Excelentia Madrid and Macao Orchestra.
Sunwook Kim’s debut recital disc was released on the Accentus label in October 2015, featuring Beethoven’s Waldstein and Hammerklavier sonatas, this was followed by a recording of Franck’s Prelude, choral et fugue paired with Brahms Sonata No.3. He has released further recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, Sonata No. 8; Pathetique, Sonata No. 14; Moonlight and Sonata No. 23; Appassionata as well as sonatas No. 30-32 and his most recent chamber music release features the Violin Sonatas of Beethoven in collaboration with Clara- Jumi Kang. His discography also includes multiple concerto recordings; on Accentus Music with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Myung-Whun Chung featuring Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 1 (2019) and Six Piano Pieces (2020) in addition to recordings on Deutsche Grammophon with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, a CD featuring Unsuk Chin’s Piano Concerto (2014) which attracted outstanding reviews and awards from BBC Music Magazine and International Classical Music Awards, and a CD featuring Beethoven Concerto No.5 (2013).
Born in Seoul in 1988, Sunwook completed an MA in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and was subsequently made a fellow (FRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019. Besides Leeds, international awards include the first prize at the 2004 Ettlingen Competition (Germany) and the 2005 Clara Haskil Competition (Switzerland). In 2013, Sunwook was selected by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn to become the first beneficiary of its new Mentoring.
Sakari Oramo
is the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Principal Conductor of West Coast Kokkola Opera and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. After serving for a decade as Chief Conductor of the Finnish radio Symphony Orchestra, he is now their Honorary Conductor.
In the 2017-18 season Oramo is highlighting the 100th Anniversary of independence of Finland by giving a complete cycle of Jean Sibelius symphonies with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, alongside with music by other compatriots like Aarre Merikanto and Esa-Pekka Salonen. With the same orchestra, he is also undertaking an extensive tour of Japan in March 2018.
With the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, he is giving an all-Stravinsky festival in October 2017, as well as a Composer Festival in November, focusing on HK Gruber´s music. Later in the season, Oramo is championing Swedish composer Ludvig Norman (1831-1885) by giving a rare performance of his Third Symphony.
With West Coast Kokkola Opera and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, he is performing Giacomo Meyerbeer´s rare ”L´Etoile du Nord” in Helsinki on 11 November 2017, a production that received rave reviews already at its first outing in Kokkola in July.
Oramo has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra (All of which he will conduct again during 2018), Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin as well as the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.
