In the aftermath of the recent media frenzy and public shock of discovering former Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Park Hyun-jung’s alleged mistreatment of her subordinates, new CEO Choe Heung-sik has taken the reigns of the SPO since July 1.

Choe, 62, is a former banking executive and former head of Hana Financial Group -- the country’s fourth-largest financial group. After more than a month in office, Choe spoke to members of the media about his plans for the future of the Seoul Phil, emphasizing his initiative to regain the trust of local citizens. 

“I know that in recent times, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra has been cast in a very negative light with all that has happened, but what I want for the future of the orchestra is to feel closer to our local community,” said Choe during a press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday.

As part of his initiatives to put the SPO back on the right path, starting with the restructuring of its employee management system, Choe vows to establish new projects that will be aimed at providing more local concert performances and educational programs for locals.

Along with his goals to win back the community, the CEO also has his eyes set on revamping the orchestra’s clout and reputation on an international level, looking to not only add more musicians to the orchestra to be able to perform grander shows, but to further fine-tune the quality and standards of its musicians through additional training.

“We have a long road ahead of us … but by pushing to increase the number of public performances by the orchestra and building on our relationships and talent of our musicians, it is my goal for the orchestra to become one of the world’s top ten orchestras.”  

“My hope for the future is for the citizens to judge the orchestra on the music, not its past misfortunes,” Choe added. “I want to create an orchestra that’s about performing beautiful music, putting on spectacular performances so that we can not only start to rebuild the trust of our citizens, but also establish an orchestra for the world that Koreans can proudly call their own.”

Earlier this year it was also revealed that the SPO‘s long-time music director and conductor Chung Myung-whun, amid controversies regarding the former CEO and his personal handling of the orchestra, stated he was considering ending his ten-year relationship with the orchestra.

During the press conference Choe stated that the fate of Chung at the SPO is still under discussion, adding that with or without the director, performances would go on as scheduled.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)