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

Markus Stenz and the KBS Symphony Orchestra

Dmitry Shishkin and the KBS Symphony Orchestra

By SangKwon Lee, 19 July 2025

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“the dark, unsettling final chord hovered unresolved in the air, dissolving slowly into silence”

Reviewed at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul on 18 July 2025

Ravel, Boléro

Prokofiev, Piano Concerto no. 3 in C major, Op.26

Schoenberg, Pelleas und Melisande, Op.5

Dmitry Shishkin, Piano

KBS Symphony Orchestra

Markus Stenz, 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

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

SangKwon Lee, 29th August

An evening at the Seoul Arts Center in which clarity matters as much as volume and the most telling virtuosity comes from a refusal to grandstand.

****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

A fine triple bill with the Philharmonia Zürich

Sarah Batschelet, 22nd January

Under Markus Stenz, the Philharmonia Zürich orchestra give stunning performances of works by Strauss, Bartók, and Mahler in the city’s historic opera house.

****1

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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.