Saint Petersburg Symphony to Light Up Sejong Stage

The Saint Petersburg Symphony, under conductor Alexander Dmitriev, will perform at the Sejong Cultural Center for Performing Arts on Sunday and at the Seoul Arts Center on Tuesday. The concerts will mark the first time a Russian orchestra has played in Korea since the Leningrad Symphony visited in 1991.

The first concert will include Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" and Prokofiev's "Symphonia Concertante" (with Daniel Lee on cello). On Tuesday the orchestra will play Lyadov's "Eight Russian Folk Songs, Opus No. 58," Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 448" (with Lee Kyung-mi) and Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 5, Opus 47."

The celebrated cellist Slava Rostropovich chose Daniel Lee, 19, a Korean-American, as his next promising prodigy after Chang Han-na. Lee, who made his album debut in 1995, played with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in 1998.

Lee Kyung-mi, 38, who made her debut in Seoul 10 years ago and will join the Russian orchestra for the performance, is a professor at Kyungnam University and records for a major Japanese label.

The works by Anatoli Lyadov (1855-1914) are noteworthy, for the composer was a pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Lyadov wrote many short works based on the folk music of different countries.

The Saint Petersburg Symphony was originally part of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, established in 1883. In 1953, the orchestra split into a philharmonic, a symphony, a chamber group, a chorus and a quartet. Yevgeny Mravinsky conducted the philharmonic orchestra for 50 years until 1933, when Yuri Temirkanov took over. Mr. Dmitriev, 65, has been art director and principal conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony since 1977.

Tickets cost 20,000-70,000 won ($18 - $63). For information contact 02-368-1515.

by Lee Jang-jik