The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will raise ticket prices to make ends meet, the newly appointed CEO of the state-subsidized organization said Thursday.

“The price was set when SPO was not so popular. After so many years, we need to rationalize our ticket price,” said Park Hyung-jung, who was inaugurated on Feb. 1, at a press meeting on Thursday.

Today, the SPO led by Maestro Chung Myung-whun has become arguably the nation’s most popular orchestra with its 2013 season tickets being sold out. Tickets to regular SPO concerts range from 10,000 won to 120,000 won.

Park, who previously worked as the president of the Woman Leadership Research Institute and an executive at Samsung, said she will start figuring out profits and losses by individual concerts and arrive at a reasonable price range.

Park said she will focus on nurturing good wind and percussion sections in the orchestra to meet the expectations of SPO fans.

“We will establish a training institute to nurture good musicians,” she said.

“I hope SPO will become a signature performer of Korea, just like how Bostonians are proud of their orchestra or tourists to New York attend the New York Philharmonic concerts to get a glimpse of the city’s cultural atmosphere,” she said. “And if tighter accounting needs to take place, then that’s what will happen,” she said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)