NY Phil's return to Korea brings long-awaited reunions
NY Phil reunites with Zimerman after 30 years and with Korean audiences after 11 years; Zimerman reunites with Salonen after seven years
The names New York Philharmonic, conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and celebrated pianist Krystian Zimerman alone are enough to capture the attention of classical music lovers. But look more closely, and this week's performances reveal something deeper: a series of long-awaited reunions between artists, between orchestra and soloist, and between the ensemble and its Korean audience.
From Thursday to Saturday, the New York Philharmonic will take the stage before Korean audiences for the first time in 11 years.
Kim Yong-kwan, CEO of Mast Media and the concert series organizer, recalled during a press conference on Wednesday that when considering a potential collaborator for the New York Philharmonic, Zimerman came to mind immediately. In 2009, Zimerman vowed not to perform in the US in protest against American military policies — a pledge he continues to keep.
When Kim approached the orchestra about the possibility of working with Zimerman, who last performed with them nearly 30 years ago, their response was one of disbelief: 'too good to be true.'
When Kim reached out to Zimerman, the pianist showed immediate interest. Upon learning that Finnish maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, also a composer and one of the most respected figures in contemporary classical music, would be performing, Zimerman readily agreed.
It so happens that the last time Salonen and Zimerman, who have known each other for 40 years, last performed together was in Seoul in 2018, when the Polish pianist performed Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 'The Age of Anxiety ' with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Salonen said Zimerman is an unusual artist who plays a very narrow repertoire in a season.
'He does a huge amount of research. He wants to know not only inside out but also back to front. He wants to know every dimension of the material and refines his interpretation to a point where it almost doesn't feel like an implementation,' Salonen said of Zimerman.
On Thursday at Art Center Incheon and Friday at the Seoul Arts Center, the performance opens with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, featuring Zimerman, followed by Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 55 'Eroica.'
On Saturday at the Seoul Arts Center, the program shifts to French Impressionists and Romantics, as Salonen leads the orchestra through Ravel's "Mother Goose" Suite, Debussy's 'La Mer' and Berlioz's 'Symphonie Fantastique.'
It is a program that combines some of his favorite compositions, pieces that he has been performing a lot lately, the conductor explained.
"Mother Goose" Suite is "disturbingly beautiful and there's not one note that is not perfect and there are no superfluous notes," he explained.
Born in Finland in 1958, Salonen is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and holds the title of conductor laureate with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London's Philharmonia Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
He is among a generation of notable Finnish conductors, including familiar names to Korean audiences such as Osmo Vanska, former music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Pietari Inkinen, former chief conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra.
When asked about the possible reason for this phenomenon, he pointed to Finland's strong music education system, in place since the 1970s and 1980s, which has helped nurture musicians in a country with a population of just over 5 million.
New York Philharmonic President and CEO Matias Tarnopolsky shared his vision for the orchestra's future, describing it as being at an 'extraordinary moment' — with a new generation of musicians and a newly renovated concert hall at Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall, which reopened in 2022.
'Most significant of all,' Tarnopolsky added, 'is the beginning of Gustavo Dudamel's tenure as music and artistic director in September 2026. So we have these incredible ingredients that we are very, very excited to combine into the most extraordinary artistic vision.'
Founded in 1842 and shaped by towering figures like Mahler and Bernstein, the orchestra now enters a new era under incoming music director Dudamel. Dudamel previously succeeded Salonen as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009.
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