Sejong Here & Now Festival: 30th Anniversary Concert

Internationally renowned New York-based chamber orchestra Sejong Soloists presents the first biennial Sejong Here & Now Festival, dedicated to commissioning and performing exciting new works for strings and soloists alongside carefully curated selections from the classical repertoire.

The inaugural festival—taking place on May 17 and 22, 2024, at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall—celebrates Sejong Soloists’ milestone 30th anniversary with two commissioned world premieres, a US premiere, and distinguished guest artists.

On May 22, the concert features a world premiere by Texu Kim written expressly for this 30th Anniversary concert in collaboration with the four violinists who will be featured as soloists—all of whom are former Sejong Soloists concertmasters and now serve as concertmasters at leading world orchestras.
The May 22 concert also features the US premiere of “Puzzles and Games,” a section of Unsuk Chin’s opera Alice in Wonderland that the composer arranged for the ensemble in 2019, as well as Mendelssohn’s Octet.

From its inception in 1994, Sejong Soloists has been dedicated to musical excellence, and many of its alumni have landed concertmaster and leading roles in orchestras around the world.

◆ Program
UNSUK CHIN Puzzles and Games from Alice in Wonderland (US Premiere of arrangement)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Octet
TEXU KIM With/out (World Premiere)

◆ Performers
Sejong Soloists
Earl Lee, Conductor
Frank Huang, Violin
David Chan, Violin
Andrew Wan, Violin
Daniel Cho, Violin
Juliana Zara, Soprano

◆ Sejong Soloists
Hailed by CNN as “one of the top ensembles of today,” Sejong Soloists is a first-class chamber orchestra renowned for its exceptional dynamic style with ranges of quartet-like precision to full orchestra resonance. Sejong Soloists has performed over 600 concerts in more than 120 cities throughout the world, and is highly praised for its innovative programming, documentaries, television broadcasts, and recordings. The ensemble has championed and commissioned music by distinguished living composers such as Augusta Read Thomas, Richard Danielpour and Eric Ewazen—with whom Sejong has ongoing collaborations—as well as Osvaldo Golijov, Tan Dun and others.

Presented by Sejong Soloists in collaboration with Korean Cultural Center New York