[News Culture] Eighteen pianists, five grand pianos and one musical lineage spanning 31 years will come together at Seoul Arts Center this month.
Professor Hyoung Joon Chang of Seoul National University will reunite with 17 of his students for “A Shared Journey,” an anniversary concert set for 2 p.m. on Aug. 29 at the IBK Chamber Hall.
The event celebrates Chang’s 31 years on the university’s music faculty, but the program looks beyond a conventional tribute. Instead of placing the professor alone at center stage, it brings several generations of pianists together as ensemble partners.
Two-piano duets, four-hand works and pieces for eight hands will fill the afternoon, turning the concert into a portrait of how musical ideas travel from teacher to student—and continue to evolve long after the lesson ends.
The opening pairs Soo-Hyun Cho and Ji-Soo Seo in music by Bach and Clementi. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” sets a reflective tone before Clementi’s Duet for Two Pianos in B-flat major brings the two instruments into a more animated exchange.
Jun-Hee Kim and Chae-Young Lee follow with Milhaud’s “Scaramouche,” a quick-moving favorite shaped by wit, bright rhythms and flashes of Brazilian influence.
The stage grows busier when Hye-Rim Lee, Hee-Joo Yoon, Yoo-Jung Yoon and Jin-Seok Maeng take their places at two pianos. Gillock’s “Champagne Toccata” and Smetana’s Sonata Movement in E minor place four performers in close quarters, with eight hands crossing, answering and occasionally competing for space across the keyboards.
The program then moves into darker and more forceful territory.
Min-Sung Lee and Soo-Yeon Ham take on Lutosławski’s “Variations on a Theme by Paganini,” a hard-driving work that pushes the familiar melody through jagged harmonies and explosive rhythmic turns.
Seung-Hyuk Na and Se-Yoon Jeon bring out the full scale of Rachmaninoff’s “Russian Rhapsody,” using two pianos to create the sweep and weight of an orchestra.
Prokofiev and Shostakovich bring a sharper edge to the second half.
Soo-Jung Park and Da-Hyun Jung will perform the opening and final movements of Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” in a two-piano arrangement, trading orchestral color for speed, precision and percussive clarity.
Sang-Won Kim and Da-Seul Jung follow with Shostakovich’s Concertino in A minor, a tightly wound musical conversation driven by quick reactions and sudden changes of mood.
The final performance narrows the stage from five pianos to one.
Chang will sit beside his student Ji-Hoon Jeon for the “Barcarolle” and “Valse” from Rachmaninoff’s “Six Morceaux for Piano Four Hands.” The two will share the same keyboard, bringing the concert’s theme into its simplest and most personal form: a teacher and student moving through the music together.
Chang has taught at Seoul National University since 1995 and has held leading positions across Korea’s classical music community, including chairman of the Korean Chamber Orchestra and president of Seoul Arts Center.
The lineup reflects the reach of his studio. Se-Yoon Jeon won the Dublin International Piano Competition, Da-Seul Jung placed third at the Jaén International Piano Competition, and Seung-Hyuk Na was a finalist at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.
Their return is not simply a celebration of Chang’s past. It shows how 31 years of teaching continue to resonate through the individual careers, interpretations and musical voices of his students.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
Copyright ⓒ 뉴스컬처 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지
