Renowned among his contemporaries as a conductor of exceptional stature, Myung-Whun Chung has earned particular distinction for his command of Olivier Messiaen’s works, a focus matched by his achievements as a prize-winning pianist.
Few families have produced such a concentrated array of musical talent as the one shared by Myung-Whun and his older sisters, cellist Myung-Wha Chung (born 1944) and violinist Kyung-Wha Chung (born 1948). He first appeared in public as a pianist in Seoul at age seven; at eight he moved to Seattle, Washington, to continue his training in the United States, later attending the Mannes School and then the Juilliard School in New York, where his teachers were Nadia Reisenberg for piano and Carl Bramburger for conducting.
Victory in the New York Times piano competition came in 1970. The following year he made his conducting debut in Seoul with the Korean Symphony Orchestra. Entering the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow as a pianist in 1974, he secured second prize. While continuing conducting studies at Juilliard—where he led both the New York Youth Orchestra and the Pre-College Orchestra—he joined his sisters in performances as a trio.
Carlo Maria Giulini, then music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, appointed him assistant conductor in 1978. Two years later, on Giulini’s recommendation, the orchestra elevated him to associate conductor. In 1984 he assumed the posts of music director and principal conductor of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany. His New York debut occurred in 1986 when he conducted the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra; later that year he led a striking Paris performance of Prokofiev’s rarely staged opera The Fiery Angel.
From 1987 to 1992 he served as principal guest conductor of Florence’s Teatro Communale, receiving the Premio Abbiata and the 1989 Arturo Toscanini Prize during this tenure. He became music director of the Opéra-Paris-Bastille in 1989; among the productions he led there were Messiaen’s Saint-François d’Assise and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District. His affinity for Messiaen’s demanding idiom prompted the composer to dedicate his final work, Concert à quatre, to Chung and to entrust him with its world premiere in 1994. In 1992 the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor for his contributions to the Paris Opera. After leaving that post he served as principal conductor of both the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.
Committed to fostering closer ties between the two Koreas, he has introduced the music of South Korean composer Isang Yun, whose outlook he shares.
His consistent advocacy of an anti-drug message in concert programs resulted, in 1992, in his appointment as Ambassador of the Drug Control Program at the United Nations. Further recognition followed when he was named UNESCO “Man of the Year” in 1995 and received Korea’s highest cultural award in 1996. Returning to Korea, he became music director of the Korean Broadcasting Symphony and was designated the country’s first Honorary Cultural Ambassador.
