Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan, teacher and student, will take the stage together one year after their first performance. Following their first duo recital last July, the two will present their second collaboration this month and appear side by side at Switzerland's Verbier Festival.
To mark its 70th anniversary, the KBS Symphony Orchestra will hold "KBS Symphony Orchestra 70th Anniversary Special Concert: Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan" at Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul on the 22nd. Masato Suzuki, a leading Japanese conductor, will take the podium as Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan perform Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos No. 10."
Their reunion is an extension of the duo stage that captivated the classical music world last July. Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan held their first duo recital at Lotte Concert Hall and the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in Seoul from July 14 to 15 last year. Performing Brahms' "Sonata for Two Pianos," Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances," and a suite from Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier," they demonstrated an intimate rapport that transcended the teacher-student relationship between two musicians.
The performance drew acclaim for the ensemble of two pianists with different personalities creating a single sound. Immediately after their domestic performances, the two returned to the stage at Switzerland's Verbier Festival, a world-renowned classical music festival.
At this "teacher-student stage" reunited after one year, the two will perform Mozart's concerto with the orchestra. Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos No. 10," which he composed for his sister, is a work in which the two soloists complete the music by exchanging melodies rather than competing in technical display. It is thus a perfect fit for showcasing the rapport of Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan, who have shared a musical connection through their long teacher-student relationship.
Their Mozart collaboration will not end in Seoul. They will perform the same concerto at Switzerland's Verbier Festival on the 26th. This time, they will play with the Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Lahav Shani. Following last year's duo recital, they will appear together at Verbier for the second consecutive year.
The concert will open with the overture to Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni." Following Sohn Min-soo and Lim Yun-chan's collaboration, the second half will feature Dvořák's Symphony No. 8.
