Eleven of South Korea's leading traditional music orchestras will gather in one place to showcase the range of the gugak orchestral repertoire. The programs bring together instruments from East Asian traditions — the pipa, the morin khuur and the shakuhachi — alongside the cello, piano, jazz saxophone and beatboxing.
The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts said it will hold the 2026 Korea Traditional Music Orchestra Festival at its M Theater from Oct. 6 to 17. Now in its fourth edition since launching in 2023, the festival this year features 11 ensembles — 10 state- and municipally-run groups from across the country plus the private Joongang Gugak Orchestra — making it the largest edition to date.
The KBS Gugak Orchestra opens the festival on Oct. 6. Cellist Kim Sol Daniel and geomungo player Heo Yoon-jung will perform as soloists, exploring the expanded timbres of the cello and the nine-string geomungo. On Oct. 7, the Pyeongtaek City Gugak Orchestra will bring together players of the Japanese biwa and shakuhachi, the Mongolian morin khuur and the Chinese suona to probe where East Asian traditional music meets the gugak orchestra.
Programs drawing on familiar music and performance forms also stand out. On Oct. 8, the Ansan City Gugak Orchestra will reinterpret music from Studio Ghibli films and Korean pop songs for traditional orchestra. On Oct. 10, the Joongang Gugak Orchestra will combine the madangnori plays "Chunhyangjeon" and "Simcheongjeon" and shamanic songs of the east coast with orchestral arrangements. On Oct. 14, the National Gugak Center's Contemporary Gugak Orchestra will focus on the depth of the tradition itself, with concertos for piri, gayageum and geomungo and a performance of "Chomangjagut." On Oct. 15, jazz saxophonist Lee Jung-sik joins the Busan Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra to show where the genre meets jazz.
Hearing the same work on different instruments is another draw. Composer Kang Sang-gu's "Blue Moon" will be performed as a haegeum concerto by the Seongnam City Gugak Orchestra on Oct. 13 and as a violin concerto by the Seoul Metropolitan Gugak Orchestra on Oct. 17. In the Seongnam performance, haegeum player Noh Eun-a will unfold the piece with the instrument's distinctively deep and delicate tone. Violinist Danny Koo, appearing with the Seoul orchestra, will give the same melody another face with a brighter, broader sound.
Work on building new repertoire for the traditional orchestra continues as well. On Oct. 9, the Jinju City Gugak Orchestra will present three works premiering this year: Lee Joon-gi's "Seonmokje," Lee Jung-ho's daegeum concerto "Fantastic" and "White Night 2" from Lee Ji-young's haegeum concerto "Lake Louise." The Busan orchestra will perform "Gate," a double concerto for piri commissioned this year, and "Beyond Jeokbyeok," a symphonic poem based on the pansori work "Jeokbyeokga."
The Seoul Metropolitan Gugak Orchestra, closing the festival on Oct. 17, will push at the boundaries of the form. Under conductor Lee Seung-hwon, Koo will perform "Blue Moon," and beatboxer Bigman will premiere a new work for beatboxing and traditional orchestra by composer Lee Il-woo. The piece sets traditional rhythmic patterns against contemporary beats on the same stage.
The festival has drawn attention since its first year. The inaugural 2023 edition sold out in 20 minutes and drew 4,959 audience members. About 5,000 attended the following year, after the festival moved to paid admission. The number of participating ensembles rose to 11 this year from 10 last year.
Ahn Ho-sang, president of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, said, "The 11 conductors will each present a different program shaped by their own aesthetics and musical sensibility, but they share the same direction — bringing music that came from the past into the present and carrying it into the future." He added, "I hope this becomes an occasion to confirm the potential of the gugak orchestra as contemporary music and the direction it should take going forward."
