Tongyeong International Music Festival 2024

For the second time since 2022, Klangforum Wien travelled to Tongyeong International Music Festival in South Korea from 3-5 April 2024. Together with soprano Sophia Burgos, with whom the ensemble also performs a concert at the Salzburg Festival in July, and under the baton of Bas Wiegers, sounds characteristic of the ensemble’s identity filled the architecturally exciting Tongyeong concert hall: Korean premieres by Helmut Lachenmann and Claude Vivier as well as Péter Eötvös' Secret Kiss. The latter's rendition turned into a tribute to the great conductor and composer in light of his sudden passing shortly before the concert. The programme, which was devised together with festival curator Unsuk Chin (recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2024), also included the world premiere of Han Lee'sOur Jukebox is Acting Up. In line with the festival motto "Eternity in Moments", a work like Georg Friedrich Haas' masterpiece in vain fit the bill ideally.

Photos: 1-7, 10-17 © TIMF/Sung Chan Kim; 9 © Sihoon Kim