HELLO from KOREA

was the second musician from Asia to perform
at the Miami Concert Hall. Her accolades
include first place in the New York Leventritt
Music Competition in 1967. She has given
over 100 performances with such world-class
orchestras as the New York Philharmonic and
the London Symphony and with prominent
conductors like Andre Previn and Leopold
Stokowski.
Their brother Myung-whun also began
playing the piano at the age of four and by
the time he was seven, he was playing with
the Seoul City Orchestra and with the Seattle
Orchestra at the age of eight. A graduate of
the Jiulliard School of Music and Mannes
School of Music, he first established himself
on the international music scene as a pianist,
winning second prize in the Tchaikovsky
Piano Competition in 1974. After completing
studies in conducting at Jiulliard, he made his
mark as a conductor and in 1978 became the
assistant conductor for the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1983, he moved to
Europe where he began conducting
Germany’s Saarland Radio Orchestra in 1986,
and ltaly’s Florence Opera in 1987. He has
also guest-conducted some of the world’s
most prestigious orchestras: the Berlin
Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and
the Royal Philharmonic, to name a few. ln
recognition of his talents, he was appointed
the musical director and conductor for the
Bastille Opera House in Paris in 1989. Chung
was also awarded the 1989 Arturo Toscanini
prize for conducting.
Although Chung is credited with turning
around the struggling Bastille Opera House,
he was unceremoniously sacked in 1994 after
a change in management. Chung and Hugues
Gall, the new administrator, locked horns
over Chung’s refusal to renegotiate his contract
over artistic control, pay, and terms of
service. After a lengthy court battle, Chung
agreed to step down after the first performance
of the 1994 fall season.
He was recently designated music director
and resident conductor of Orchestra National
de France (ONF), one of the two orchestras
operated by Radio France. Chung has also
been a resident conductor for the Santa
Cecilia Orchestra in Rome since 1997.
57 _ Culture
sical musicians, like the Chung trio, violinist Chang Hanna , and singers
Choi Hans and Jo Sumi among others.
Most radio stations today, however, play pop music, which is cranked
out by new groups that spring up everyday. From reggae to heavy metal,
from smooth Lionel Richie sound-alikes to rap (in Korean!), almost
every kind of popular music has been recorded by Korean pop artists,
making their own mixes as they gain greater familiarity with borrowed
idioms. Whatever music Koreans listen to, almost any Korean would
agree that she or he lives in a country of musical people.