2027 Seoul International Conducting Masterclass

Yunsung Chang studied composition at Seoul Arts High School and Seoul National University and completed coursework in conducting at the university’s graduate school. While studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, he won second prize at the inaugural Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St Petersburg in 1993 and second prize, with no first prize awarded, at the Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1997.

He has conducted the St Petersburg Philharmonic, St Petersburg Symphony and Camerata St Petersburg in Russia; Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic and Sendai Philharmonic in Japan; Wiener Concert-Verein and Klagenfurt Symphony in Austria; Robert Schumann Philharmonic Chemnitz and Nuremberg Symphony in Germany; Rome Symphony in Italy; Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia in Madrid, Spain; MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Hungary; Prague Radio Symphony, Prague Symphony, Brno Symphony and Janáček Philharmonic in the Czech Republic; Kraków Radio Symphony in Poland; Kharkiv Symphony in Ukraine; and Belgrade Symphony in Serbia.

His touring engagements include four German cities with the Nuremberg Symphony, Japan with the KBS Symphony Orchestra, Korea with the Mariinsky Opera Orchestra and Camerata St Petersburg, and Klagenfurt and St Pölten in Austria with the Brno Philharmonic and Janáček Philharmonic. He has conducted ballet performances with Universal Ballet at Sadler’s Wells in London, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, as well as Seoul Metropolitan Opera tours to Tokyo and Osaka. His touring repertoire spans symphonic music, ballet and opera.

In 1995, he conducted the European premiere of Penderecki’s Symphony No. 5, “KOREA,” in Kraków. His Korean premieres include Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Casella’s Symphony No. 2 and Bloch’s Symphony in C-sharp minor. He has also premiered numerous works by Korean composers, maintaining a broad repertoire from the Classical period to modern and contemporary music.

Beginning with Mozart’s L’oca del Cairo at Austria’s Neustudio Bühne, his opera repertoire includes Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte; Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio and Il barbiere di Siviglia; Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel; Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore; Verdi’s Rigoletto, La traviata, La forza del destino and Nabucco; Puccini’s Il trittico, Madama Butterfly, La bohème and Tosca; Bizet’s Carmen; Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher.

He has served as Principal Conductor of the Ulsan, Changwon and Daejeon symphony orchestras and the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra; Resident Conductor of Japan’s Osaka College Opera House; Principal Guest Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra; and Resident Conductor of the Gunpo Prime Philharmonic Orchestra. He has released recordings on Japan’s Camerata label. He is currently Professor of Conducting in the Department of Composition at Seoul National University’s College of Music.