Seoul International Music Festival to focus on Central Europe for 16th edition

This year’s Seoul International Music Festival (SIMF), now in its 16th edition, invites visitors to go on a tour of Central Europe.

Composer Ryu Jea-joon, artistic director for the 16th Seoul International Music Festival (SIMF), speaks during a press conference in central Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

This year’s Seoul International Music Festival (SIMF), now in its 16th edition, invites visitors to go on a tour of Central Europe.

While most would sort the continent's nations into those in the east and west, SIMF’s artistic director and composer Ryu Jea-joon realized that many Europeans disliked the divisional terms due to their political background.

So instead, Ryu opted to reimagine the roots of classical music at the core of Europe through the works of composers from Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

SIMF runs from Oct. 18 to 26 with seven concerts. Four of them are themed after a season that has been paired with one of the regions: “Autumn in Warsaw,” “Summer in Vienna,” “Spring in Prague” and “Winter in Budapest.”

Polish composers Szymanowski, Kilar and Penderecki; Austrian composers Schoenberg and Schubert; Czech composers Smetana and Dvorak and Hungarian composers Kodaly, Dohnanyi and Bartok are highlighted in each concert.

One performance, titled “The Mood of Seoul,” also highlights the works of Korean composers Lee Won-jung, Kang Suk-hi and Kim Ji-hyang.

The SIMF Orchestra, which is largely comprised of members from the Ensemble OPUS, helms the festival.

Ryu emphasized in a press conference Wednesday that the brass instruments were especially high in quality in this edition, noting pieces like Dvorak’s “Serenade for Wind Instruments in D minor, Op. 44,” as part of the “Spring in Prague” concert on Oct. 20.

The featured brass players for SIMF are Kim Hong-park on horn, Choi In-hyeok on trumpet, Daniel Téllez Gutiérrez on trombone and Lukács Gergely on tuba.

The closing performance is the worldwide premiere of Ryu’s “Concerto per clarinetto e orchestra” and Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107.” This year is also the 200th anniversary of the Austrian composer’s birth.

Tickets for each concert begins at 20,000 won ($15) and can be purchased via Interpark Ticket and Yes24. For more information regarding the venues and schedule, visit SIMF’s website.

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