Chung Myung-whun

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Korean spelling
Hangeul 정명훈
Hanja 鄭明勳
Revised
Romanization
Jeong Myeong-hun
McCune-
Reischauer
Chŏng Myŏnghun

Chung Myung-whun (born January 22, 1953 in Seoul ) is a South Korean conductor and pianist .

Life

Chung gave his first piano concertos at the age of seven in Seoul with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. After the family emigrated to the USA , he began his training in New York at the Mannes School of Music (piano and orchestral conducting). In 1970 he won the competition of the New York Times , in 1974 he was awarded the second prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition for piano .

Chung and his two sisters Chung Myung-wha ( cello ) and Chung Kyung-wha ( violin ) have performed as a trio in concerts since 1967 , and in 1971 he made his debut as a conductor with the Korean Symphony Orchestra. In 1975 Chung became the director of the Juilliard's Precollege Orchestra while continuing his conducting studies at the Juilliard School . His career as a pianist had already taken him to concerts in New York, London and Berlin. In 1978 he finished his training and became assistant to Carlo Maria Giulini with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Chung left the USA in 1981 and took on various duties as a conductor in Europe in the following years . From 1984 to 1990 he directed the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra , with which he premiered Isang Yun's 3rd Symphony in 1985, among others . From 1990 he was at the Paris Opéra Bastille , where he conducted the opening performance of the first season on March 17, 1990, Les Troyens . With the orchestra of the opera house he premiered Olivier Messiaen's Concert à quatre here in 1994 , which the composer dedicated to him and the orchestra. In the same year he had to give up his post after disputes with the administration of the opera.

He was also principal guest conductor at the Teatro Communale in Florence from 1987 to 1992 and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1986 with Simon Boccanegra . He also worked on the operas of San Francisco , Monte Carlo and Geneva and has been Honorary Conductor of the Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome since 1997 .

In 1997 he became chief conductor of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra; From 2000 to 2015 he was the musical director of the Orchester Philharmonique de Radio France and has also been artistic advisor to the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra since 2001. In 2006, Chung was appointed chief conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Guest performances have taken him to the most important opera houses and concert platforms around the world. In 2011 there was a heated debate over the level of his salary of 2 billion won for 2010. He finally agreed after a meal with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon , so that his salary was reduced by 700 million won for 2011. Chung has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the 2012/13 season. In 2018 and 2019 he directed the Venice New Year's Concert .

The UNESCO paid tribute to his commitment to humanitarian and ecological issues by appointing him in 1995 "Man of the Year" for the United Nations , he served as Special Envoy on Drugs 1992-1997. In his native Korea, he was named the first cultural ambassador in history; since April 2008 he has been supporting the work of UNICEF as a “Goodwill Ambassador”.

Chung has three sons, with his youngest son trying to follow in his father's footsteps.

Discographic notes

In 1990, Chung received an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon , meanwhile he also works with other companies and has currently (2008) documented around 80 publications, including:
Olivier Messiaen : Turangalîla-Sinfonie and Éclairs sur l'Au-delà… ; Giuseppe Verdi : Otello , Hector Berlioz : Symphonie fantastique , Dmitri Schostakowitsch Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk ; Antonín Dvořák 3rd , 6th , 7th and 8th symphonies and the serenade for string orchestra op. 22, Carl Nielsen , The six symphonies and the violin, flute and clarinet concerto and recordings with Cecilia Bartoli , Bryn Terfel , James Galway and other.

Awards

literature

  • Stefan Jaeger (ed.): The conductors' book of Atlantis. An encyclopedia. Addendum 1986/87 . Atlantis-Musikbuch Verlag, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-254-00106-0 , p. 3f.
  • Alain Pâris: Lexicon of Performers of Classical Music in the 20th Century . dtv / Bärenreiter, Munich / Kassel 1992, ISBN 3-423-03291-X , p. 138.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Successful maestro takes heat for salary . JoongAng Daily from December 20, 2011 (English).
  2. Chung Myung-whun to lead renowned German orchestra . The Korea Times, June 10, 2011.
  3. Myung-Whun Chung, appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador (English)
  4. Chung Myung-whun's Son to Debut as Conductor . The Korea Times, June 18, 2007.
  5. Violinist Chung leads the Samsung Ho-Am Prize list . The Korea Times, April 5, 2011.
  6. ^ Maestro Chung Myung-whun Gets Lifetime Award from Italy . Chosun Ilbo from July 23, 2013 (English).
  7. Chung Myung-whun receives Italian honors. The Korea Herald , July 6, 2017, accessed July 20, 2017 .