Harmonicist to team up with orchestra

Harmonicist Park Jong-seong performs during a press conference held at ODE Port, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Music & Art Company

Poster for “Harmonicist Orchestra” / Courtesy of Music & Art Company

By Park Ji-won

Harmonicist Park Jong-seong is set to show the versatility of the instrument in his upcoming performance with an orchestra.

Park, the first Korean ever to win first prize at the World Harmonica Festival in 2009, will be playing various pieces such as composer Kim Hyun-joon’s harmonica concerto titled “Harmonica Memorial,” and James Moody’s “Toledo, Spanish Fantasy” with PRIME Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Cho Young-hoon at its upcoming concert “Harmonica with Orchestra” in Gangdong Arts Center on June 13.

“I have been performing harmonica in concerts where orchestras took the lead. But this is the first time to lead a concert with the harmonica by inviting an orchestra. I have been dreaming of such a concert with an orchestra,” Park said during a press conference, Wednesday.

Graduating from Kyung Hee University’s Department of Post-Modern Music, Park teamed up with Kim Hyung-joon in 2019 to come up with the orchestral piece centering on the harmonica. Park shared his knowledge of the instrument so that Kim could reflect it in the composition.

Park mentioned that, historically, the chromatic harmonica is associated with wartime and often heard in jazz clubs.

“For harmonicists, teaming up with an orchestra is not common. Since the birth of the chromatic harmonica, which I play, about a century ago, harmonica players started to eye classical music. But, the sound of the instrument was not strong enough to team up with orchestras until the microphone and speaker were developed. The composition ― and the concert itself ― is one of those efforts to explore the possibilities of the harmonica in the field of classical music,” he said.

“Harmonica Memorial,” one of the highlights of the concert, draws influence from various genres; the first movement of the piece draws on Korean traditional music while the second and third movements feature aspects of classical and jazz music. The fourth movement points to popular music.

“I include many musical genres in the concerto to take advantage of the full range of the harmonica’s expressive traits … In the second movement in particular, I tried to show another characteristic of the instrument by only including chordal techniques.”

“When you press the button on the side of the harmonica, it becomes like the black keys on a piano. People usually play the instrument while pressing and releasing the button. But I would press it in halfway during the performance. Also, I usually execute clean notes, but sometimes I would deliberately play dull-sounding notes. I also would play the instrument backwards, and I think it would be the first in the world … As the harmonica’s repertoire is not extensive, harmonicists have been longing for new pieces. It is the first of its kind in Korea and I hope this will be good news for performers all over the world.”