Gum Nanse | |
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Born | Gum Nanse 25 September 1947 Busan, South Korea |
Nationality | South Korean |
Occupation | Conductor |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 금난새 |
Revised Romanization | Gum Nansae |
McCune–Reischauer | Gum Nansae |
Gum Nanse (Korean: 금난새; born 25 September 1947) is a South Korean conductor. In 1977, he was the first Korean to win the prize at the Herbert von Karajan Conductors' Competition[1] in Berlin. He is currently General and Artistic Director of the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of New World Philharmonic Orchestra. He served as the principal of Seoul Arts High School from 2013 to 2019.[2] Gum Nanse Music Center (GMC), a concert hall dedicated to chamber music under his name, was opened in April, 2021 in Busan.[3]
Gum was born in Busan, is the son of Suhyun Gum who was a composer and music educator.[4] He studied music at Seoul Arts High School and studied musical composition at Seoul National University. He also studied conducting at the Universität der Künste in Berlin under Prof. Hans-Martin Rabenstein.[5]
In 1977, Gum was one of the prize winners (4th prize) at the Herbert von Karajan Conductor's Competition and was the first Korean conductor to be given an opportunity to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic.[6] Since returning home in 1980, he was appointed as the conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra for 12 years.[7]
In 1992, he moved to Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra.[8] At that time Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra was a struggling ensemble and had difficulties attracting audiences to their concerts. Gum concentrated on improving the quality of the performance and on refreshing the orchestra's image.[9]
While he was in Suwon, Gum organized a series of special concerts with Suwon Philharmonic such as the 7-hour Marathon Concert and New Year's Eve Concert at Seoul Arts Center.[10] Also, Gum began a new educative concert series for young students in collaboration with Seoul Arts Center in 1994 titled, 'Young People's Concerts with Gum Nanse'. The concerts were particularly popular among young students and the concerts remained sold-out for six consecutive years from 1994 to 1999.[11]
During Gum's appointment as artistic director, Suwon Philharmonic's number of concerts increased from about 10 concerts per year to more than 60 concerts per year.[12] Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra’s turnaround soon gathered the media’s attention and in 1995, Samsung Electronics (headquartered in Suwon) built a new outdoor concert hall and rehearsal facilities for Suwon City and Suwon Philharmonic.[13] Samsung Electronics also sponsored Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra for five years and its overseas tours in the US, Canada, UK, Spain, and Thailand (for the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok) for three years.[14][15]
Since 1997, Gum has been primarily engaged in the activities of the Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra (currently the New World Philharmonic Orchestra) which he founded. Apart from New World Philharmonic, he served as the artistic director of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra (2006–10) and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra (2010–14) consecutively.
In interviews, Gum often stresses that classical musicians should be "proactive and extend their talents to the audience regardless of venues".[16] As an example, Gum gave a series of symphonic concerts in the lobby of POSCO Center (POSCO's main headquarters building in Seoul) since 1999. In the lobby of POSCO Center, Gum and Euro-Asian Philharmonic gave concerts with programs that included complete Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms Symphonies.[17]
In recent years, Gum has been active as a festival director. He founded the 'Music Isle Festival in Jeju’ (since 2005) and the 'Manhattan Chamber Music Festival’ (since 2012).[18] The Music Isle Festival in Jeju joined the European Festivals Association(EFA) in 2010.
Gum is the principal of Seoul Arts High School (Seoul Yego) and regularly conducts the Korea United College Orchestra (KUCO)[19] which consists of non-music major students from 25 universities nationwide. He also conducts the Korea Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO)[20] which consists of young amateur musicians from 25 small provincial towns once a year.[21]
Currently, Gum is artistic director of the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra and Hankyung Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2015, Gum was also appointed as the principal guest conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
As of now, Gum holds the positions of below: