Korean orchestras foster cross-genre collaborations

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and SM Entertainment Co. signed a memorandum of understanding last week to collaborate across different musical genres. 

“[We] are expecting a win-win result of SM Entertainment being able to promote its classical music label SM Classic established in 2020 with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra to break the stereotype that classical music is difficult and boring,” the orchestra spokesperson told The Korea Economic Daily.

The orchestra will arrange classical renditions of songs by SM Entertainment artists. Unlike in the previous agreement, this year’s collaboration will encompass offline events. 

The parties to the agreement hope the in-person collaboration will draw interest from millennials and Generation Z. 

The two music juggernauts signed a similar agreement in 2020, which resulted in the orchestra's renditions of Red Velvet’s Red Flavor and former SHINee member Jong-hyun’s End of a Day. 

The classical music renditions have been released as music videos and albums. The YouTube clips have been viewed 1,710,000 and 720,000 times respectively. 

Stomp Music, a production company that specializes in classical music, and Nexon GT Co. will jointly hold the Symphony of MapleStory at Lotte Concert Hall next month. 

The Arts Symphony Orchestra’s 60 members will play the game’s soundtracks. In between the numbers, video game footage will also be displayed. 

Nexon Korea, which owns several subsidiaries including Nexon GT Co., released MapleStory in 2003, played by some 180 million users around the globe.

When Nexon first held a MapleStory concert to commemorate its 15th anniversary in 2018, the tickets were sold out within 13 minutes. 

The WE Philharmonic Orchestra joined hands with drama production company Pan Entertainment, also to render its soundtrack into orchestra versions. 

Come April, the orchestra will play a number of soundtracks from drama series produced by Pan Entertainment at Lotte Concert Hall. The drama series include the 2019 hit series When the Camellia Blooms and The Doctors. 

The WE Philharmonic Orchestra has been spearheading the popularization of classical music to the general public by holding concerts featuring motion picture scores. 

The upcoming April concert, however, will be the orchestra’s first in playing soundtracks from Korean drama series.

Cross-genre musical collaboration is also common abroad. 

The Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic have played scores from movies including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park in recent years. 

Write to Hyeon-woo Oh at ohw@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.