SERGEY SMBATYAN CONDUCTS THE KOREAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: A MAGICAL FUSION OF MUSIC AND LITERATURE

17:59, 15 Jan 2015

On January 14 Sergey Smbatyan, the artistic director and principal
conductor of the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia conducted the Korean
Chamber Orchestra. The concert took place at the Concert Hall of the
Seoul Arts Center.

Undoubtedly, this exceptional evening presented the unforgettable
memories to the hundreds of listeners: they became a part of a magical
fusion of classic music and literature.

The audience enjoyed the simultaneous performance of the Concerto
for Piano and Orchestra by Alfred Schnittke, one of the most eminent
musical figures of the second half of the XX century, and the narration
of the novel entitled “On heroes and tombs” by Ernesto Sabato, one
of the most remarkable writers of Latin America. Sabato’s piece is
considered to be the best Argentine novel of the XX century and a
magnificent example of the “magic realism”, a genre founded by Borges,
Amado, Marquez and the author himself.

During the concert the Korean Chamber Orchestra performed jointly on
the same stage with the pianist Ksenia Kogan, soprano Yeree Suh and
the narrator, the world-renowned Hollywood actor John Malkovich.

John Malkovich is an American film and theater actor, producer,
director and screenwriter, numerous prizes’ awardee, including 2
“Oscars”, 3 “Golden Globes”, 3 “Emmies.”