Myung-Whun Chung

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Myung-Whun Chung · Myung-whun Chung is a South Korean conductor and pianist, born on 22 January 1953. He studied piano with Maria Curcio and in 1974 won a shared second prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. With his sisters, the violinist Kyung-wha Chung and the cellist Myung-wha Chung, he played in the Chung Trio. He then studied conducting at Mannes College and at the Juilliard School.

Music and breakthrough

He has conducted almost all the major orchestras of Europe and America, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. From 1984 to 1990 he was chief conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken. From 1989 to 1994 he was music director of the Opéra de Paris and opened the first season of the new Opéra Bastille with the complete Les Troyens by Berlioz, which the critics praised highly. In 1991 he was named Artist of the Year in France and in 1992 he received the Legion of Honour. He conducted the world premiere of Messiaen's last work, the Concert à quatre, which the composer dedicated to him and the Orchestre de la Bastille.

Influence

In 1997 Chung became artistic director of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2000 of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra made him an honorary member, and in 2012 he became the first principal guest conductor in the history of the Staatskapelle Dresden. He shows how East Asian musicians in the late twentieth century won a leading place in Western classical music.

Listening