Seoul Spring Chamber Music Festival

Held each year at the height of spring, the Seoul Spring Chamber Music Festival (SSF) will take place for two weeks from the 21st of next month at major performance venues including the Seoul Arts Center and the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

This year, marking the 270th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth, the program has been prepared under the title "Mozart and Prodigies". It also reflects the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations with France.

The opening concert, "Prodigies of France", to be held on the 21st at the IBK Chamber Hall at the Seoul Arts Center, will open with Mozart's late masterpiece, String Quintet No. 5. The program includes Camille Saint-Saens's "Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs", Claude Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, and Cesar Franck's Piano Quintet. Performing are Artistic Director Kang Dong-Suk, violinist Park Jae-Hong, clarinetist Chae Jae-Il, pianist Moon Ji-Young, and the Arete Quartet.

On the 22nd, works designated as No. 1 by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert will be performed, tracing the great first steps of prodigies. The stage on the 23rd will present chamber works by Haydn, Dvorak, and Blumer, composers often regarded as late bloomers. On the 25th and 27th, audiences can encounter the essence of chamber music, including Mozart's string quintets and the Quintet for Piano and Winds. On the 28th, there will be music by Mendelssohn, often called the Mozart of the 19th century, and by Czerny, who inherited classical forms during the Romantic era.

The "Family Concert: Prodigies" on May 2 is also intriguing. It will showcase the skills of standout teenage performers such as Kim Yeon-A (violin), Kim Jeong-A (cello), Lee Do-Young (clarinet), and the Apassion a Trio. The closing concert, on May 3, will be held under the title "France 1886". It will spotlight French works completed in 1886, the year diplomatic relations were established between Korea and France. The program features Emmanuel Chabrier's "Memories of Munich for Four Hands", Gabriel Faure's Piano Quartet No. 2, Franck's Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Saint-Saens's "The Carnival of the Animals".

Led by Artistic Director and violinist Kang Dong-Suk together with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the festival marks its 21st edition this year. Ticket prices are 70,000-20,000 won.