Shiyeon Sung

The South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung is characterised by natural authority, her inspiring rehearsal approach and consistently finds the right nuance between dynamic passion and level-headedness. With the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, whose chief conductor she has been since January 2014, she toured Europe for the first time in summer 2015, including a concert at the Philharmonie Berlin. On the occasion of Isang Yun’s 100^th anniversary on 17 September 2017, the Musikfest Berlin has invited Shiyeon Sung and her orchestra as the very first Asian orchestra to appear at Berlin’s renowned international orchestra festival.

Other highlights of the new season include return visits to the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz as well as her Russian debut concert with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra. She made her successful debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in July 2016 and kicked off the season 2016/17 by conducting the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern on tour in her home country. With the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, she recently recorded Mahler’s 5^th symphony for Decca.

When James Levine appointed her as his Assistant Conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007, she already had a reputation as one of the most exciting emerging talents on the international music circuit: 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 and conducted their season opening concert in 2007. In 2009, the orchestra established an Associate Conductor’s position especially for her, which she held until 2013.

The list of orchestras with whom Shiyeon Sung has worked since then is remarkable. This includes renowned European orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin and the Bamberg Symphony,as well as the National Symphony Orchestra Washington or the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which she led in a spectacular debut concert with Martha Argerich at the Tongyeong International Music Festival. In June 2010, Shiyeon Sung conducted a highly successful concert after the re-opening of the legendary Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The Argentinian press enthusiastically praised the young conductor’s “virtuoso ability”. At the Stockholm Opera, she has conducted works including Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus und Eurydike.

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. Die Daewon-Kulturstiftung verlieh ihr den “Musical Performance”-Preis 2017.

2016/2017 season

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