Myung-Whun Chung

Born in 1953, Myung-Whun Chung learned to play the piano at an early age and performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of his native city of Seoul at the age of seven. After his family moved to the USA, he studied piano and conducting at the Mannes School and the Juilliard School in New York and won second prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1974. In 1979, Chung became an assistant to Carlo Maria Giulini at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was appointed Associate Conductor two years later. His first leadership position took him to the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1984. For five years, from 1989 to 1994, he was Music Director of the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Chung then took the reins as Chief Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1997-2005), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (2000-15), and the Seoul Philharmonic (2005-15). Since 2012, he has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden; he is also Honorary Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic and Direttore Emeritus of the Filarmonica della Scala. Myung-Whun Chung has conducted such leading international orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which he first led in 1984. In music theater, he appears regularly at La Scala in Milan, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and the Vienna Staatsoper. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the new Busan Opera and Concert Hall in South Korea, which will open in 2027. Myung-Whun Chung has released more than 80 CDs. In addition to his artistic activities, he is committed to humanitarian and environmental causes. He was an ambassador for the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and was honored as “Man of the Year” by UNESCO in 1995. In 2008, UNICEF appointed him as the first conductor to become a Goodwill Ambassador. Chung is a Knight of the French Legion of Honor and a member of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. South Korea awarded him the Kumkuan, its most distinguished cultural award.

One appearance as a pianist at the Lucerne Festival (IMF): on 18 August 1976 he performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with his sisters, violinist Kyung-Wha and cellist Myung-Wha Chung, and the Swiss Festival Orchestra under Cristóbal Halffter.

July 2024