SPO to take stage with Erina Yashima, Kim Han

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will kick off its third and final season of 2021 with Japanese-German conductor Erina Yashima and clarinetist Kim Han.

The SPO will hold concerts on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Lotte Concert Hall in eastern Seoul under the baton of Yashima.

It is the first time for Yashima, assistant conductor at the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2019, to lead the Seoul-based orchestra. Under her lead, the orchestra will present Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” which the composer wrote for his friends who died during World War II. The program includes Bartok’s Divertimento for String Orchestra. The piece was written during World War II, commissioned by Paul Sacher for the Basler Kammerorchester.

Clarinetist Kim Han, the second solo clarinetist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2018, will join the stage, performing the overture from Mozart’s opera “Magic Flute” and Clarinet Concerto in A major.

The Clarinet Concerto, written in 1791 for clarinetist Anton Stadler who is known to have been close with Mozart, is the last work to have been composed by Mozart.

Kim, who debuted at the age of 11 through the Kumho Prodigy Concert, is this year‘s Kumho Art Hall‘s artist-in-residence. This is Kim’s third performance onstage with the SPO.

Tickets are priced between 10,000 won to 70,000 won.


By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)