Busan Philharmonic at Musikfest Berlin 2025
Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Composer Younghi Pagh-Paan with a Monumental Evening at the Berlin Philharmonie
October 06th, 2025
On 23 September 2025, at 8:00 p.m., Musikfest Berlin came to a resounding close with a memorable performance by the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra at the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. The concert served as both the festival’s grand finale and a tribute to the 80th birthday of Korean composer Younghi Pagh-Paan, a leading voice in contemporary music.
The evening offered audiences a unique journey through Korean and European soundscapes. At its heart were two major works by Pagh-Paan: Sori (1980), for large orchestra, and Woman, Why Are You Weeping? Whom Are You Seeking? (2023), a recent orchestral meditation. Together, these pieces showcased her lifelong artistic vision, blending Korean musical traditions with Western orchestral techniques and reflecting deeply on themes of memory, spirituality, and transcendence.
The program also included masterpieces of European modernism and late Romanticism. Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major (1930) displayed technical brilliance and emotional depth, while Olivier Messiaen’s L’Ascension (1933) brought four symphonic meditations of mystical grandeur. The concert concluded with Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 (1924), a single-movement work of sweeping power and organic unity.
This event was presented by Berliner Festspiele / Musikfest Berlin in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, the Korean Cultural Center (Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea), the Busan Cultural Center, KOFICE (Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange) and Bavarian Radio’s Musica Viva.
