37-year-old Uzbek prodigy conducts National Symphony with 83-year-old pianist Virsaladze
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
The National Symphony Orchestra will close its season on December 6 at Seoul Arts Center with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 “The Year 1905,” led by 37-year-old Uzbek composer-conductor Aziz Shokhakimov. The program opens with Schumann’s Piano Concerto — a lyrical work expanded from a single-movement sketch for his wife Clara — featuring 83-year-old Russian pianist Eliso Virsaladze in her first collaboration with a Korean orchestra. Shostakovich’s 11th, based on the 1905 “Bloody Sunday” events, contrasts static tension and explosive sounds to evoke oppression and resistance. Shokhakimov, who debuted at age 13 with the Uzbekistan National Symphony and has won international conducting awards (including the Karajan Young Conductors prize), is expected to highlight the piece’s structural contrasts with delicate sonic balance. The program aims to connect intimate emotion to historical memory through two very different musical voices.
