Mao Fujita’s Mozart and Myung‑whun Chung’s Fantastique in Seoul

Mao Fujita and the KBS Symphony Orchestra

Myung-whun Chung and the KBS Symphony Orchestra

By SangKwon Lee, 31 August 2025

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“the most telling virtuosity came from a refusal to grandstand”

Reviewed at Seoul Arts Center: Concert Hall, Seoul on 29 August 2025

Mozart, Piano Concerto no. 25 in C major, K503

Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, Op.14

Mao Fujita, Piano

KBS Symphony Orchestra

Myung-whun Chung, Conductor

Myung‑whun Chung launches a new KBS Symphony chapter in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 16th January

In Myung-whun Chung’s first concert as the orchestra’s tenth Music Director, Leonidas Kavakos’ account of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is built on exposure rather than varnish.

***11

Markus Stenz conducts three monumental 20th-century scores in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 18th July

Propulsive Prokofiev from pianist Dmitry Shishkin between Ravel’s hypnotic minimalism and Schoenberg’s late-Romantic complexity.

****1

A night of bold strokes: Orozco-Estrada and Josefowicz in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 22nd May

By the close of the performance, one sensed that the audience’s exhilaration stemmed less from polished execution and more from a shared immersion in the music’s dramatic arc—elements that lingered as the defining memory of this eventful evening.

****1

Unity in Sound: Myung-whun Chung leads KBS and Tokyo Phil in Mahler 1

SangKwon Lee, 3rd March

Like the grainy intensity of a high-contrast black-and-white photograph, these rugged edges accentuated Mahler’s expressive extremes, reaffirming the conductor’s innate flair for crafting a grand aesthetic narrative within the symphony’s expansive architecture.

****1

Redemptive Mahler 2 from Myung-whun Chung in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 21st February

Myung-whun Chung and the KBS Symphony Orchestra tackle Mahler’s monumental Resurrection Symphony at the Seoul Arts Center.

***11

Schumann from the inside out: Yunchan Lim and Staatskapelle Dresden

SangKwon Lee, 1st February

Yunchan Lim seldom seeks the spotlight in a reflective, conversational account of Schumann's Piano Concerto, conducted by Myung-whun Chung.

*****

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SangKwon Lee

SangKwon Lee is a Seoul-based classical music critic whose writing focuses on concert performances and recordings. A contributor to Gramophone and a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, he covers the classical music scene in Korea and internationally.

Clarity as drama: Mao Fujita’s Mozart and Myung‑whun Chung’s Fantastique