Beyond BTS: How South Korea’s classical music scene is gaining popularity and importance on the global stage

BTS, Blackpink, NewJeans and other K-pop bands might spring to mind if we talk about South Korea’s music, but the country’s classical music scene is thriving too, fuelled by talented musicians and backed by media and commercial companies

Classical music is traditionally thought to be the forte (pun intended) of European nations, but lately quite a few Asian musicians have been winning big at international awards. South Korean candidates are some of the strongest in the game: in 2015, Seong-Jin Cho became the first South Korean pianist to win the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition; in 2018, Esme was the first Korean ensemble to win first prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London, which is one of the most prestigious competitions for quartets; in 2022, Lim Yun-chan was the youngest person to win the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the US at 18.

“Korean classical music stars are rising. If they decide to hold a concert in Seoul, the tickets will be sold out in minutes. Now they’re seen as some kind of K-pop idols in the Korean music [scene],” says Sung-Wan Park, the managing director of Hankyung arte Philharmonic, a private orchestra set up in 2015 by The Korea Economic Daily.

Some of these celebrities include Lim, whose January concert tickets were sold out within one minute when the sales opened; and his teacher Minsoo Sohn, who is coming to perform with Hankyung arte Philharmonic as part of Hong Kong Arts Festival this month, whose concert tickets also got sold out before the concert on March 12.

Sohn and the orchestra will be pairing Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye’s 2019 piece The Faint Ginkgo with Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky in the Hong Kong concert, with an encore of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme Of Paganini, a piece familiar to many because it was featured in the 1980 Hollywood movie Somewhere in Time.

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Above Minsoo Sohn performing at Lotte Concert Hall in November 2024 (Photo: courtesy of Shin-joong Kim)

While it is undeniable that K-pop remains the biggest economic pillar in South Korea’s cultural sector—South Korea’s record exports in 2022 amounted to USD233,113,000 according to a research paper by published on journal site scirp.org—there are signs that the country’s classical music scene is gaining greater popularity and importance.

Being young and fresh may just be why the classical scene here stands a chance. Take The Hankyung arte Philharmonic as an example. The orchestra doesn’t shy away from its young history; it even takes pride in what being young can offer the country’s cultural scene. Francisco Cho, general manager of the orchestra, says when compared to other orchestras in South Korea—the oldest one was set up in 1948—Hankyung arte Philharmonic’s musicians, who are mostly in their early 30s, play music that’s “more vibrant, energetic and younger”.

“The situation in South Korea is very unique. If you imagine a Berlin orchestra [the Berlin Philharmonic was founded in 1882], it will not aim to improve in 20, 40 or 60 years, because it has this tradition of hundreds of years,” says Wilson Ng, the conductor of Hankyung arte Philharmonic, who has also worked with most of Seoul’s major orchestras over the years. He feels that with a young group of musicians, especially those who return home from elite music academies such as in Berlin or Paris, there is a general drive to make their music respected at the global stage. “They have something meaningful to look forward to here. That’s why the [performers] are on fire and are passionate [when they perform]. They’re also more involved in discussions in rehearsals,” Ng says.

Above Wilson Ng and the Hankyung arte Philharmonic at a rehearsal (Photo: courtesy of Jiseok Jo)

The younger generation’s appreciation for classical music also increased when South Korea’s economic conditions have improved in the last few decades. More families can afford to send their children to pursue a music degree at prestigious music conservatories in Europe or the US. Sohn himself, for instance, studied at New England Conservatory in Boston with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun. Now a professor himself in Boston, he has also transferred his student, Lim, from the Korea National University of Arts to his conservatory since autumn 2023.

“South Korea has developed into a really wonderful place to be a classical musician,” Sohn observes. “Twenty years ago, this wasn’t the case.”

Seoul’s music scene has also grown diverse: Broadway musicals such as Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera, often translated into and performed in Korean, are a regular pastime activity; the Lotte Concert Hall, which hosts classical music concerts, is built inside a shopping arcade, making classical music easily available for the general public; there are theatre and performing arts districts offering independent productions and the space for buskers; then of course, there’s K-pop. While these are very different genres, the mass population’s easy access to different kinds of musical events is the first step to the city’s cultural nurturing.

Above From left: Wilson Ng, Sung-Wan Park and Francisco Cho (Photo: courtesy of Jiseok Jo)

Media organisations such as The Korea Economic Daily have also given the cultural scene a greater push. As well as the Hankyung arte Philharmonic, the newspaper owns a television channel which broadcasts classical music concerts, ballet shows and other kinds of performing arts to 228 million households in South Korea. The company is also making use of its YouTube channel and podcasts “to attract younger audiences to such [cultural] events”, says Park. “South Korea has a fast economic growth, but at the same time we couldn’t keep up with our cultural growth. With the orchestra, I want to enrich our cultural capabilities, to expand our cultural exchanges with other nations and strengthen South Korea’s soft power in the world stage.”

As Park puts it, “Classical music is like milk. Other contemporary Korean music genres such as K-pop are fresh, exciting and easily likeable. But for classical music, you need to grow a taste to like it. After you’ve acquired the taste, it’s very nutritious and vital for your [health].”

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Beyond BTS: How South Korea’s classical music scene is gaining popularity and importance on the global stage