Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble has just wrapped up a hugely successful tour across South Korea, Absolute Korea, featuring Korean-American classical violinist superstar, Sarah Chang. The five-concert tour in October included performances in Busan, Daejeon and three in Seoul, including an open-air concert outside Dongdaemun Design Centre to an audience of 50,000 people.
This was the first time classical star Sarah Chang played non-classical repertoire and she embraced the ‘Absolute’ take on traditional Korean, American and classical pieces. Featuring new and arranged works by Absolute Ensemble’s composers Gene Pritsker, Charles Porter, Dave Soldier, Charles Coleman, Daniel Schnyder and more, the band created an exhilarating, all-new, Korea-inspired programme (download the Absolute Korea tour Programme) a “…tribute to a people and a land that has shown the world how to welcome the new whilst cherishing the old.”
Chang was a natural fit with the band, tweeting from Seoul on the first day of the tour, “Very excited to be in Korea and playing my very first non-classical concerts!! I am LOVING this project and fabulous new repertoire!”.
Some highlights from the tour were a Gangnam Style/Zigeunerweisen mash-up (click here for Hollywood Reporter article), Composer/DJ Gene Pritsker rapping (view the fan video of ‘Felix & George Go Clubin’ Feat. Sarah Chang) to an ecstatic crowd outside Seoul’s newest building innovation the Dongdaemun Design Centre, and hundreds lining up for CD signings from Sarah Chang and Kristjan. Kristjan’s charismatic charm as MC united a tour of markedly individual concerts, and Absolute Ensemble’s signature energy brought the audience to their feet, with their hands in the air, throughout each incredible evening.