Shiyeon Sung

Conductor

Contact

Maike Charlotte Fuchs
mf@karstenwitt.com
+49 30 214 594-220

Kathrin Feldmann-Uhl
kf@karstenwitt.com
+49 30 214 594-241

General Management

IN THE MAGAZINE

In the magazine

Shiyeon Sung becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.

THU 07.08.

19:30
The Arts Centre, Melbourne

SAT 09.08.

19:30
The Arts Centre, Melbourne

THU 25.09.

19:30
Town Hall Auditorium Auckland

Biography

‘The Korean conductor begins Maurice Ravel's classic in the utmost, almost inaudible pianissimo, skilfully using the sensitive acoustics of the Isarphilharmonie together with the BR Symphony Orchestra. She then emphasised the jazzy moments, at a tight tempo, but always with a sensitive sound. Musical impact and precise detail: this conducting balancing act characterises the entire programme…’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24/11/2023)

The South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung is a real trailblazer of her profession. She is the first female conductor out of South Korea to make the leap to the podium of internationally renowned orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since 2023, she has been the Auckland Philharmonia’s Principal Guest Conductor.

Orchestras and artistic partners alike value her wealth of experience on all continents, a strong international network and a wide-ranging repertoire that also includes contemporary music. Artistically, she is characterised by her considerate way of working with an eye for detail and a clear musical vision, a strong conducting technique, passion and poise. Shiyeon Sung is able to lead as well as inspire, and conducts ‘with an elusive elegance, a sense of lightness, brightness and friendliness’ (Abendzeitung, 24/11/2023).

When she was appointed assistant conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007, her reputation as one of the most exciting emerging talents on the international music circuit was already secure: shortly before, Shiyeon Sung had won the International Conductors’ Competition Sir Georg Solti and the Gustav Mahler Conductors’ Competition in Bamberg. During her three-year tenure in Boston, she began a close collaboration with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2009, the orchestra established an associate conductor’s position especially for her, which she held until 2013. She was chief conductor of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra from 2014 to 2017, during which time she led the orchestra to international success. After her departure from Gyeonggi, Shiyeon Sung relocated to Berlin where she now resides, but remains a popular guest in her home country and regularly returns to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and other Korean orchestras.

The list of orchestras that Shiyeon Sung has worked with since then is remarkable. It includes renowned European orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition, she appeared as guest conductor at the Teatro Colón and the Stockholm Opera.

Shiyeon Sung’s 2024/25 season kicks off with the season opening of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla. A special highlight of the season will be the joint European tour with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra with three concerts at the Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Festspielhaus Bregenz, Herkulessaal Munich, Cankarjev Dom Ljubljana and Hasselt in Belgium. Following her successful debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in December 2022 and five joint concerts in February 2024, she will return to the orchestra in spring 2025. She will also make her debuts with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Bremer Philharmoniker and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra amongst others, and return to the Oviedo Filármonia, the Orquesta de València and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. In South Korea, she will be conducting again at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, one of the most renowned promoters of classical music in Asia.

Born in Pusan, South Korea, Shiyeon Sung won various prizes as a pianist in youth competitions. From 2001 to 2006, she studied orchestral conducting with Rolf Reuter at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and continued her education with advanced conducting studies with Jorma Panula at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

2024/2025 season

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References

"Unforgettable performance - the Auckland Philharmonia‘s Tchaikovsky 5 concert offered much cause for celebration, including the welcome return of principal guest conductor Shiyeon Sung and the very special feeling of being part of another of the orchestra’s capacity audiences (…) On the night, Sung drew a rare vibrancy from familiar pages, laying out a compulsive journey from the Russian’s doom-laden introduction to the triumphant glow of its final apotheosis."

NZ Herald, William Dart, 18 Mai 2025

"Shiyeon Sung worked wonderfully with the orchestra to bring out the ever-changing character of the Promenade that links the pieces: At times the cellos threaten, at other times, Sung lets the wildly uncontrolled Baba Yaga’s Hut become a witches’ sabbath raging through the concert hall „Glocke“, before finally, the Great Gate of Kiev with Promenade motifs makes a grand conclusion. It was an incredible cinematic experience and received a great deal of applause"

Weserkurier, Iris Hetscher, 5 February 2025

"The Korean conductor delivered an impressive performance of this testamentary work in many respects The excellent musicians of the Orchestre National de Metz Grand-Est conveyed the epic grandeur of this music without the slightest difficulty, with Sung giving it a remarkable drive. The Maestra pays attention to detail, balance, and clarity."

classique news.com, Emmanuel Andrieu, 19. January 2025

"Sung conducted with a mixture of clarity and sensitivity that allowed the orchestra to be both powerful and supportive. She was a master at balancing the dynamics between orchestra and soloist so that both could shine equally."

Vorarlberger Nachrichten, 19. November 2024

"Under the precise and emphatic baton of South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra mobilised a richly toned fresco through all the different moods of this effective first movement, with whose concept Liszt opened up a new compositional genre. (…) The dedicated commitment of all those involved in Antonin Dvořàk's Symphony No. 6 in D major was inspiring. Shiyeon Sung's blazing maelstrom in the Presto of the Scherzo, which is seldom so truly a furiant, was overwhelming, as was the way in which the brass Allegro con spirito was finally allowed to rise."

DrehPunktKultur, Horst Reischenböck, 14 November 2024 - Concerts cycle at the Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg

"The program’s second half was devoted to Dvořák — the under-programmed Sixth Symphony of 1880, to be precise. Shiyeon Sung showed herself a wonderful colorist in possession of an admirable technique, eliciting Dvořák’s ingratiating blends of woodwinds with sensitivity and refinement."

Memeteria, Thomas May, 19. April 2024 - Concert with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra

"Shiyeon Sung captured the piece’s vivacity and allowed all featured instrumental voices to shine."

Barefoot Review, Kym Clayton, 22. March 2024

"The Korean conductor begins Maurice Ravel's classic in an extreme, almost inaudible pianissimo, skilfully using the sensitive acoustics of the Isarphilharmonie together with the BR Symphony Orchestra. She then emphasised the jazzy moments, at a tight tempo, but always with a sensitive sound. Musical power and precise detail: this conducting balancing act characterises the entire programme, which interweaves works by Ravel with those by György Ligeti. (...) When the orchestra becomes huge again in Ravel's "Ma mere l'oye", the sound remains finely balanced. And gives another opportunity to praise Shiyeon Sung for her thoughtful phrasing, her refined internal dynamics and transitions. Ravel's collection of fairy-tale images thus leads into the poetic, into a dream realm, the evening as a whole effectively contradicting all traditional concert dramaturgy, from the powerful to the delicate."

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael Stallknecht, 27 November 2023

"Shiyeon Sung offers such an abundance of detail that it is hard to keep up while listening. The South Korean conductor is extremely precise with the dynamics: the longer the BR Symphony Orchestra lingers in tantalising pianissimo, the more electrifying the tension builds up. We encounter a whole host of special works [Ravel and Ligeti] here, all of which are conducted by Shiyeon Sung with precision, but also with an elusive elegance, a sense of lightness, brightness and friendliness."

Abendzeitung, Michael Bastian Weiß, 24 November 2023

“...Isang Yun's orchestral works have an unmistakable tone, determined by rather shrill, high woodwinds (...) This also applies to Yun's ‘Réak’ from 1966, which opened the musica viva concert with the BR Symphony Orchestra in the Herkulessaal, conducted clearly and energetically by Shiyeon Sung.”

Abendzeitung, Robert Braunmüller, 7 July 2022

"Sung’s overall conducting of Holst’s 'The Planets' was exemplary. (...) Her interpretation imbued the astrological characteristics of each planetary voice with a fresh distinctive sound, without losing the essence of Holst’s overall vision. It was a fine achievement. Her strong technical skills and attention to detail with a clear, insistent beat allowed her sweeping style to coax as well as lead."

Limelight Magazine, Suzannah Conway, 17 April 2023

“The rest of the evening also convinces with an adventurous programme. (...) Conductor Shiyeon Sung, whose impressive debut makes her the eighth female conductor ever to conduct the Concertgebouw Orchestra, first makes the threatening clarinet solos in Bartók's Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin glow softly, then lets the orchestra blaze to incandescent volume.”

de Volkskrant, Rick van Veldhuizen, 7 November 2021

“Here, in Muak by Isang Yun and in The Miraculous Mandarin by Bartók, conductor Sung brought out the best in the Concertgebouworkest. Her debut in this wonderful programme, born of a cancellation, definitely deserves a sequel.”

Trouw, Peter van der Lint, 7 November 2021