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Shiyeon Sung becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.
Jean Sibelius, Nightride and Sunrise, Op. 55
Peter Tschaikowsky, Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Carl Nielsen, Symphony no. 2, Op. 16 «The four Temperaments»
Shiyeon Sung, conductor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Johan Dalene, violin
Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow, Scheherazade, Op.35
Sofia Gubaidulina, Fairy Tale
Claudia Montero, Concierto en blanco y negro para piano y orquesta de cuerdas
Sergej Rachmaninow, Symphonic Dances Op. 45
Orquesta de València
Martina Filjak, piano
Lili Boulanger, D'un matin de printemps
Manuel de Falla, Noches en los jardines de España
Igor Strawinsky, The Firebird
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Javier Perianes, piano
Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte
Maurice Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin
Arvo Pärt, Cantus in Memoriam B. Britten
Gabriel Fauré, Requiem op. 48
Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Mari Palo, soprano
Petteri Saaloma, baritone
Benjamin Britten, War Requiem op. 66
Tongyeong Festival Orchestra
Jacksonville symphony
Kenneth Young, Douce Tristesse
Sergej Prokofjew, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C-Major, op. 26
Peter Tschaikowsky, Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op.64
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
N.N.
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 2 D major Op. 73
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Simone Lamsma, violin
Franz von Suppe, Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna
Joseph Haydn, Symphony No.93 in D Major, Hob.I:93
Igor Strawinsky, Divertimento 'Le baiser de la fée'
Clara-Jumi Kang, violin
Gioachino Rossini, The Fantastic Toy Shop, Suite, P.120a
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 21 C major, KV467
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Symphony No.9 in E-flat major, Op. 70
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
‘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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Shiyeon Sung, a young Korean conductor, was on the podium and approached the work energetically and with clear ideas.She and the orchestra worked out the ever-changing character of the “Promenade”, which brackets the pieces, wonderfully: sometimes brash, sometimes threatening, sometimes playful. And in other respects, too, she ensured that the orchestra moved swiftly from image to image. (...) Sometimes the cellos threaten, sometimes Sung turns the out-of-control “Hut of Baba-Jaga” into a witches' sabbath raging through the bells, before the “Great Gate of Kiev”, with its promenade motifs, brings things to a grave conclusion. It was a splendid head cinema and earned a great deal of applause.
Weserkurier, Iris Hetscher, 5. February 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 mobilized a richly toned fresco through all the different moods of this telling first movement, with whose concept Liszt opened up a new compositional genre."
DrehPunktKultur, Horst Reischenböck, 14. November 2024
"Rollicking energy dominated, as it should, in Dvořák’s scherzo, its furiant syncopations defiantly exuberant despite the minor key. Rambling detours make the finale the weakest part of the Sixth and pose a challenge to the conductor, but Sung guided the SSO through its leisurely musings with a sense of purpose."
Memeteria, Thomas May, 19. April 2024
"[…] 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
"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
“...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
“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
“The concert’s second half was devoted to Tchaikovsky’s fatalistic Symphony No. 4, which showcased Sung’s unique ability to breathe life and originality into one of the most ubiquitous pieces in the standard repertoire. Starting with a crisp, stately rendition of the opening fanfare, Sung gave the first movement an underlying architecture that supported her nuanced, intelligent take on each of the main themes. (...) Sung resisted the urge to sentimentalize: Every climax and emotional flourish was earned, rendering it all the more powerful and beautiful.In the breathtaking third and fourth movements, Sung raised the technical level of the orchestra, achieving a clear articulation and phrasing through the extended pizzicato passages and taking the more urgent passages at a breathtaking speed. The orchestra stayed with her as she cued them with expressive movements of hands and fingertips, and at the triumphant finale it was clear that conductor and ensemble had left everything on the stage.”
Utah Arts Review, Rick Mortensen, 20 November 2021
Auckland Philharmonia, Part 1 - Shiyeon Sung discusses her childhood and her beginnings in the world of music
Auckland Philharmonia, Part 2 - How does a conductor prepare for a concert? Shiyeon Sung breaks down the steps she takes to prepare for taking the podium
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite - Shiyeon Sung / Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain - Shiyeon Sung / Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Mahler Symphony No.5 - Shiyeon Sung / Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra
P.I.Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in e minor, Op.64 - ll. Andante cantabile
Dvorak Cello Concerto 3rd mvt, Jakob Koranyi - Cello
Claire Huangci, Shiyeon Sung, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Berlin Classics, B07T4RYMLT, 2019
Shiyeon Sung, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra DECCA 2016, DD41140
Shiyeon Sung, Ann Hobson Pilot, Boston Symphony Orchestra ℗ 2015 Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc., 2011