UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, led by music and artistic director Jacek Kaspszyk and featuring guest pianist Seong-Jin Cho, will perform works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Cho, making his first U.S. tour, will join the orchestra for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37. The orchestra will also perform Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, and Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s “Polish Melodies,” Op. 47, No. 2.
Seoul native Cho attracted worldwide attention after becoming the first South Korean to win the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015. He also won high honors at the Tchaikovsky and Moscow piano contests, as well as becoming the youngest first-prize winner at Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan.
At 22, Cho already shows a clear understanding of his performance material. Classical music website Bachtrack described Cho as having “an enviable ability to make every note sound distinct and clear, shaping and balancing each phrase perfectly.”
“Understanding the mind of a composer would help me understand the historical and personal context behind each and every one of his works, which ultimately provides me with the tools to perform his works with more depth and meaning,” he said in an interview with the Center for the Performing Arts.
Cho, who lives in Paris and studies piano with Michel Béroff, has performed with orchestras around the world. Earlier this year, he signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
Read a Center for the Performing Arts Q&A with Cho.