Myung-Whun Chung
Encyclopedia
Myung-whun Chung is a South Korean pianist
and conductor
.
His sisters, violin
ist Kyung-wha Chung
, and cellist
Myung-wha Chung
, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio
. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition
. Chung studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music
and the Juilliard School
. He also studied piano with Maria Curcio
, the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel
. Chung was an assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic
during the music directorship of Carlo Maria Giulini
and founder of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.
In Europe, Chung was chief conductor of the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1990. He was principal guest conductor of the Teatro Comunale Florence
, from 1987 to 1992. He has conducted virtually all the prominent European and American orchestras and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York in 1986 with Simon Boccanegra
. At the end of the 1987/88 seasons, he received the Premio Abbiati
Award from Italian critics, and the following year the Arturo Toscanini
prize. From 1989 to 1994, Chung served as the Music Director of the Paris Opera
. He opened the inaugural season at the new Opéra Bastille
with Berlioz's complete Les Troyens
and received highly praised reviews from the music circle. In 1991, the Association of French Theatres and Music Critics named him "Artist of the Year" and in 1992 he received the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the Paris Opera. An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon
since 1990, many of his numerous recordings have won international prizes and awards. These include Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie
and Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., Verdi's Otello
, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique
, Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade
and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
with the Opéra Bastille Orchestra; a series of Dvořák's
symphonies and serenades with the Vienna Philharmonic, a series dedicated to the great sacred music with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
, including the award-winning recording of Duruflé's
and Fauré's
requiems with Cecilia Bartoli
and Bryn Terfel
.
In 1995 he was honoured three times at the French Victoires
de la Musique Classiques, and was also named . He directed the world premiere of Messiaen's last work: the Concert à quatre
for four soloists and orchestra, which the composer had dedicated to Chung and the Orchestre de la Bastille. He has been the Special Artistic Advisor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
since 2001 and was as awarded the highest Record Academy Prize by Japanese critics following his performances in Japan. In addition to being awarded numerous music prizes, Chung has also been honoured with Korea's most distinguished cultural award, the Order of Cultural Merit
or Geum-gwan Medal (Gold Crown) 금관장, for his contribution to Korean musical life and was named "Man of the year" by UNESCO
. He served as Ambassador for the Drug Control Program at the United Nations
and was Korea's Honorary Cultural Ambassador, the first in the Korean government's history. From 1997 he has been the Music Director of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2000 the Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
, from 2001 the Special Artistic Advisor of Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and from 2006 the Art Director and Principal Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
.
In April 2011, the Seoul Philharmonic became the first Asian orchestra to sign a major-label record deal, committing to make 10 CDs for Deutsche Grammophon. Chung, who from the 2012/2013 season will be the first Principal Guest Conductor in the history of the Staatskapelle, has agreed to conduct one of the Easter Festival’s concert programmes in 2013.
In September 2011, Chung made a cultural breakthrough visit to Pyongyang, returning with an agreement to form an orchestra made up of musicians from North and South Korea .
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
His sisters, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Kyung-wha Chung
Kyung-wha Chung
Kyung-wha Chung is a Korean violinist.- Biography :Kyung-wha Chung's musical career began at the age of three. Her fame in the seventies and eighties was at the top level, and ranked alongside the great violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman...
, and cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
Myung-wha Chung
Myung-wha Chung
Myung-Wha Chung is a Korean cellist.- Biography :Myung-wha Chung was born in 1944 in Seoul, South Korea, to a musical family...
, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio
Chung Trio
The Chung Trio is a Piano trio consisting of Korean siblings, each of whom is an internationally renowned soloist. The trio consists of:* Myung-whun Chung * Kyung-wha Chung * Myung-wha Chung...
. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
. Chung studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music
Mannes College of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music is The New School university's music conservatory. While the university's main campus is located in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mannes maintains its main academic building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....
and the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
. He also studied piano with Maria Curcio
Maria Curcio
Maria Curcio was an Italian classical pianist who became renowned as a greatly influential and sought-after teacher. Her students included Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Dame Mitsuko Uchida, Leon Fleisher and Geoffrey Tozer...
, the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel was an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura...
. Chung was an assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
during the music directorship of Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
and founder of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.
In Europe, Chung was chief conductor of the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1990. He was principal guest conductor of the Teatro Comunale Florence
Teatro Comunale Florence
The Teatro Comunale di Firenze is an opera house in Florence, Italy. It was originally built as the open-air amphitheatre, the Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele which was inaugurated on 17 May 1862 with a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and which seated 6,000 people...
, from 1987 to 1992. He has conducted virtually all the prominent European and American orchestras and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York in 1986 with Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
. At the end of the 1987/88 seasons, he received the Premio Abbiati
Franco Abbiati
Franco Abbiati was an Italian musicologist.Abbiati was born in Verdello. He studied composition at the musical high school in Turin. He worked as a music critic for Corriere della Sera for thirty-six years....
Award from Italian critics, and the following year the Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
prize. From 1989 to 1994, Chung served as the Music Director of the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
. He opened the inaugural season at the new Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
with Berlioz's complete Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
and received highly praised reviews from the music circle. In 1991, the Association of French Theatres and Music Critics named him "Artist of the Year" and in 1992 he received the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the Paris Opera. An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
since 1990, many of his numerous recordings have won international prizes and awards. These include Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie
Turangalîla-Symphonie
The Turangalîla-Symphonie is a large-scale piece of orchestral music by Olivier Messiaen. It was written from 1946 to 1948, on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The premiere was given by that orchestra on December 2, 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein in Boston...
and Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
, Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade
Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Sheherazade , Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights, this orchestral work combines two features common to Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colourful...
and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
with the Opéra Bastille Orchestra; a series of Dvořák's
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
symphonies and serenades with the Vienna Philharmonic, a series dedicated to the great sacred music with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the best-known orchestras in Italy. It is based at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At various times it has been known as the Symphony Orchestra of the Augusteo and Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the...
, including the award-winning recording of Duruflé's
Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
and Fauré's
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
requiems with Cecilia Bartoli
Cecilia Bartoli
Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...
and Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
.
In 1995 he was honoured three times at the French Victoires
Victoires de la Musique
Victoires de la musique , is an annual French award ceremony that recognizes the best musical artists of the year.- Male artist of the year :*1985 : Michel Jonasz*1986 : Jean-Jacques Goldman*1987 : Johnny Hallyday...
de la Musique Classiques, and was also named . He directed the world premiere of Messiaen's last work: the Concert à quatre
Concert à quatre
Concert à quatre is one of the final works of the French composer Olivier Messiaen.Written between 1990 and 1991, Messiaen originally intended the piece to have five movements. However, work on another large-scale piece, Éclairs sur l'au-delà…, prevented him from completing it before his death...
for four soloists and orchestra, which the composer had dedicated to Chung and the Orchestre de la Bastille. He has been the Special Artistic Advisor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
The claims to be the oldest classical orchestra in Japan, having been founded in Nagoya in 1911. It moved to Tokyo in 1938 and has some 166 members as of 2005....
since 2001 and was as awarded the highest Record Academy Prize by Japanese critics following his performances in Japan. In addition to being awarded numerous music prizes, Chung has also been honoured with Korea's most distinguished cultural award, the Order of Cultural Merit
Order of Cultural Merit (Korea)
The Order of Cultural Merit is one of the Republic of Korea's Orders of Merit. It is awarded to those who have rendered outstanding meritorious services in the interest of improving the national welfare.-Classes of Cultural Merit:...
or Geum-gwan Medal (Gold Crown) 금관장, for his contribution to Korean musical life and was named "Man of the year" by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. He served as Ambassador for the Drug Control Program at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and was Korea's Honorary Cultural Ambassador, the first in the Korean government's history. From 1997 he has been the Music Director of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2000 the Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra providing music for Radio France. It specializes in contemporary music and was founded in 1937.- Names of the orchestra :*Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France...
, from 2001 the Special Artistic Advisor of Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and from 2006 the Art Director and Principal Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1948, is one of the oldest and most famous orchestras in South Korea. Its first foreign tour came on a 1965 trip to Japan, followed by performances in Southeast Asia in 1977, the United States in 1982, 1986 and 1996, a 1988 tour of Europe before the...
.
In April 2011, the Seoul Philharmonic became the first Asian orchestra to sign a major-label record deal, committing to make 10 CDs for Deutsche Grammophon. Chung, who from the 2012/2013 season will be the first Principal Guest Conductor in the history of the Staatskapelle, has agreed to conduct one of the Easter Festival’s concert programmes in 2013.
In September 2011, Chung made a cultural breakthrough visit to Pyongyang, returning with an agreement to form an orchestra made up of musicians from North and South Korea .
Honors
- Legion of Honour, 1992
- Order of Cultural Merit, 1996
- Ho-Am Prize in the ArtsHo-Am Prize in the ArtsThe Ho-Am Prize is a Korean annual award awarded to "those who have made outstanding contributions to the development of science and culture and enhancement of the welfare of mankind," often referred to as the Korean equivalent of the Nobel Prize....
, 1997 - Ordre des Arts et des LettresOrdre des Arts et des LettresThe Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
, Commandeur, 2011
External links
- Myung-whun Chung at Askonas Holt
- Myung-whun Chung biography at the Bach Cantatas Website
- Myung-whun Chung Discography at Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...