Beethoven-themed Pyeongchang festival showcases world-renowned cellists, pianists and more

The 2024 Music in PyeongChang festival will feature 20 concerts and seven 'outreach' concerts across 11 days. Renowned cellist Yang Sung-won is organizing the event.

Renowned cellist Yang Sung-won speaks during a press conference in central Seoul for the 21st Music in PyeongChang as the festival's artistic director on June 11. [YONHAP]

The upcoming 2024 Music in PyeongChang (MPyC) welcomes classical music aficionados seeking to escape the heat.

Pyeongchang, Gangwon, is several degrees cooler than Seoul, where temperatures clock over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer — perhaps explaining why more than 70 percent of the annual festival's audience tends to come from the capital region.

MPyC will take place for 11 days, starting July 24, at numerous venues in Pyeongchang including the Alpensia Concert Hall and its Music Tent.

Renowned cellist Yang Sung-won will organize the festival for the second time since taking over as artistic director last year.

This year's festival — themed “Ludwig!” in an endearing nod to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) — is about “giving back to society,” Yang said in a news conference last week.

“I imagine children listening to the performances as something they will remember even 10, 20 years later,” he said. “For me, it would be the best compliment ever. The respectable artists here have the potential to inspire others with their music. It’s my wish that through these performances, people everywhere, including Gangwon residents, will understand the immortal value of music.”

The 20th edition of the Music in PyeongChang festival kicks off its opening act at the Music Tent in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, on July 27, 2023. [YONHAP]

The festival features 20 concerts and seven “outreach” concerts, the latter of which involves musicians traveling to other venues to perform for local communities. The outreach shows will take place in Hoengseong, Gangneung, Donghae and Pyeongchang.

A majority of the performances will showcase the works of Beethoven and composers who were influenced by, or influenced him.

The opening concert begins at 8 p.m. on July 24 at the Music Tent. Cellist Miklós Perényi, and violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair will lead the KBS Symphony Orchestra's performance of Joseph Haydn’s “Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major.”

The Seoul Motet Choir and the Wonju Civic Chorale will perform Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral.’” during the second half of the concert.

Performances will take place almost every day, including clarinet quintets on Mozart and Brahms, piano trios on Beethoven, cello solos paying homage to Beethoven and string quartets on Cherubini and Schubert.

Pianist Park Jae-hong, winner of the 2021 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, will perform Schumann’s only piano concerto, “Piano Concerto in A Minor,” on July 28.

French jazz pianist Paul Lay will also reinterpret Beethoven’s major works on Aug. 1. Lay has won accolades at the La Défense Competition and the Moscow International Jazz Piano Competition.

Other award-winning artists, including violist Lee Hae-sue, pianist Chung Kyu-bin and composer Kim Shin are featured as well.

MPyC was created two decades ago to bolster Pyeongchang’s bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2018. Having accomplished its original goal, the state-run festival has toned down its scale over the years. Yang nevertheless hopes to help it grow steadily in the long run.

“The location is perfect: It’s not too close nor too far from Seoul,” he said. “I would say it takes a maximum of two hours if you take a train. I think that’s an appropriate time for a short trip. But for those who live further away, our performances will be livestreamed on YouTube.”

For more information regarding the schedule, visit the MPyC’s website.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]