LSO Futures - Seong Jin Cho: Artist Portrait Review

November 21, 2025

LSO Futures – Seong Jin Cho: Artist Portrait Review

21st November 2025

K-Pop, K-Dramas? No, tonight is about K-Music. Korea is having a moment. A good moment. A movement. Tonight is just another example of the excellence that is being produced in Korea and, thankfully, being showcased across the world. Tonight’s concert features the dexterity of Artist-in-Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic, Winner of the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and performer at the 2024 BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seong-Jin Cho. Fellow composer Donghoon Shin has composed his piano concerto especially for Cho, which the world hears for the first time tonight.

“…Shin took Schumann’s music, shook it up, spun it around and spat it out to create an emotive insight into his own mind”

Also premiering is gilufim by Omri Kochavi and Sly by Sasha Scott.

We are at The Barbican. Having ceremoniously lost our way, despite knowing the venue like the back of our hands, we sit down to hear a concert performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxime Pascal.

The first piece is gilufim – an LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik commission written by Omri Kochavi. Kochavi is a composer and guitarist based in London whose work draws its language from a broad range of influences, focusing on the reality of sounds, plants, people, and the interactions between them.

In September this year, the first performance of Ladies in Bloomers was performed by the London Sinfonietta, EXAUDI, and gardeners from the Story Garden, conducted by Ellie Slorach — a 45-minute ‘hortimusical’ drama for ensemble, singers, and on-stage gardeners, following the radical lives of pioneering women gardeners.

Gilufim (Hebrew for ‘carvings’) is based on the idea of creating shape and form, and carving material away.

The piece is dreamlike, delicate and gentle, with louder dynamics used sparingly. The beauty of silence is used effectively throughout, and we are taken on a magical journey. Wood influences the sound, with a marimba and vibrophone featuring prominently, and the strings playing predominantly with wooden mutes. In places, we hear the crackling of firewood, created by percussionists using jazz brushes, and a nut shaker. Kochavi states that the piece is the result of a dense sketch that has been whittled out.

A stunning piece by an incredibly talented composer that I am sure we will see much more of, Kochavi rightfully took his place on stage at the end for a rapturous applause.

The second piece is the world premiere of LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik commission Sly by Sasha Scott. Scott is a composer, producer and violinist born and based in London. Her work moves between acoustic and electronic, often merging the two to create hypnotic, dark, fast-paced sound worlds that blur the lines between the organic and the synthetic. She has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, 12 Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Sean Shibe, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Music Festival, and Her Ensemble, with performances across Europe, the USA, and Asia.

The opening chord is unsettling, and certainly feels devious and sneaky. Sliding strings create a sense of unease, and the brass section creates a low, foreboding bass line. The majority of the piece is in the minor key, but there are places we break through into the major. We only receive a split second of relief, however, when we are plunged quickly back into the menacing nature of the piece. Just as we think we are reaching the climax, the music breaks into almost silence, and we listen simply to the sound of the lower strings being plucked. As the piece reaches its end, we are left speechless and moved.

What a talent for such a young age, who has a shining career ahead of her.

The final world premiere marks the first collaboration between two leading figures of Korea’s new generation of classical music.

Piano Concerto by Donghoon Shin (LSO co-commission) wrote this piece especially for pianist Cho.

Born in South Korea in 1983, Donghoon Shin studied composition at Seoul National University with Sukhi Kang and Uzong Choe. He moved to London in 2014, studying with Julian Anderson at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Sir George Benjamin at King’s College London.

Shin’s Piano Concerto was inspired by his favourite composer, Schumann. The start is gentle, reminiscent of crickets on a summer’s day. Rolling thunder interrupts the tranquillity, with perhaps a rain shower. As the piece progresses, we are shown the dark side of human nature. There are many moments of anger and aggression on the piano, with every part of the keyboard being used to dramatic effect – chromatic scale after chromatic scale, like a storm in the mind and the brain overflowing, until you are banging your head out of frustration and madness. Cho worked the keys with ease.

Shin took Schumann’s music, shook it up, spun it around and spat it out to create an emotive insight into his own mind. Bravo.

What a joy to have had the opportunity to hear these wonderful new composers, topped off with a spellbinding performance of Pierre Boulez’s Ritual in memoriam Bruno Maderna. We were transfixed throughout. Congratulations to the LSO, Maxime Pascal, Seong-Jin Cho and all the aforementioned composers for such an impressive evening of new and modern music.