Oct. 4 at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

A preview of 2027: Beethoven and Brahms

Conductor Chung Myung-whun and pianist Kim Sun-wook will perform in the Sejong Season 2026 "Beethoven + Brahms" concert. [Sejong Center for the Performing Arts]
Conductor Chung Myung-whun and pianist Kim Sun-wook will perform in the Sejong Season 2026 "Beethoven + Brahms" concert. [Sejong Center for the Performing Arts]

Conductor Chung Myung-whun and pianist Kim Sun-wook, who have built a deep artistic bond over many years, will share the stage again for the first time in two years.

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday that the two musicians will perform together in the 2026 Sejong Orchestra Series "Beethoven + Brahms" on Oct. 4 at the Grand Theater. Their last joint appearance was in 2024.

The concert brings together Chung, one of the world's foremost conductors and a leading figure in Korean classical music, the KBS Symphony Orchestra he leads, and Kim — a collaboration built on years of shared musical understanding.

The reunion carries particular symbolic weight. Kim won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 at age 18, becoming the first Korean-trained pianist to claim the top prize at a major international competition. Chung guided Kim's development, serving as a musical mentor. The two released a recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor," on Deutsche Grammophon in 2013, and in 2020 released a live recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 — captured at a 2019 performance at Seoul Arts Center — through Accentus Music.

The program also serves as a preview of 2027, when the classical music world will mark the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death and the 130th anniversary of the death of Brahms, widely regarded as Beethoven's musical heir. A year before orchestras worldwide turn their attention to that landmark season, the concert offers an early look at the essence of both composers.

The first half features Kim performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 — a masterwork in which the composer forged classical formal clarity and romantic intensity even as he faced the terror of hearing loss. The second half sees Chung and the KBS Symphony Orchestra perform Brahms' Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73, a work in which the composer's characteristic melancholy merges with the pastoral landscapes of Pörtschach, Austria, to produce radiant, bucolic joy.


shee@heraldcorp.com