Mahler chamber comes to Korea

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra formed by maestro Claudio Abbado will perform in Korea for the first time with conductor Daniel Harding and pianist Lars Vogt, on Sunday.
Founded in 1997, the Berlin-based orchestra has performed with renowned classical performers such as pianist Martha Argerich and mezzo sopranos Cecilia Bartoli and Magdalena Kozena. It consists of 49 musicians from 15 countries and performs nearly 70 times a year, including regular performances at Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and Mozart festivals. Abbado and Mark Minkowski are frequent guest conductors with the orchestra.
Daniel Harding is only 31 years old, but has been conducting for 16 years. He began his career assisting Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and made his conducting debut with the Orchestra in 1994, at the age of 19. Abbado, then-musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, took notice of Harding, who soon became his assistant. Harding led the Berlin Philharmonic at the 1996 Berlin Festival, becoming the youngest person to take the baton with them.
Harding succeeded Abbado as musical director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in 2003. He will also become principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in October and will take up the principal conductor’s post at the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. With the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Harding has recorded Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” which received the “Choc de l’Annee 2002,” and Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw,” which won a Gramophone award.
Born in Dueren, Germany, in 1970, Vogt first drew public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. He is now one of the busiest pianists in the world. During the 2005-2006 season, he has performed, or is going to perform, in 80 concerts and has released two albums of classical music. He has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Deutsche Symphony Orchestras.
Vogt founded his own music festival, Spannungen, in Heimbach, Germany, in 1998. The festival’s success has been marked by the release of live recordings, some of which have won Echo Classic and Deutsche Schallplattenpreis awards.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Symphony in F Major K43, the Schumann Piano Concerto, and Brahms Symphony No.2.

by Limb Jae-un

The performance starts at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, Nambu subway station, line No. 3, exit 5. Ticket prices are 30,000 won to 140,000 won.