A classical music craze has swept over the country ever since young pianist Cho Seong-jin’s historic win at last year’s International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. He is the first Korean ever to win the prestigious title and his win has helped revive classical music here.

Costa Pilavachi, senior vice president of classical artists & repertoire for Universal Music International Group, is among those looking to capitalize on the current buzz in the classical music scene.

“Korea is a hot place right now,” said Pilavachi, during an interview with The Korea Herald at Seoul Arts Center earlier this month.

“We have been sensitive and open to emerging talent from Korea for a long time, but now … there will probably be more people in the company focused on Korea than ever before,” he added. “I am trying to get more and more people (in the music industry) to make Korea part of their itinerary, the way Milan, Paris and London are.”

Deutsche Grammophon, one of the UMIG recording labels, was behind the release of Cho’s Chopin competition live performance album, which was released in Korea on Nov. 6.

The album saw unprecedented sales -- 50,000 copies in less than a week -- an unheard of feat for a classical music artist in Korea.

“He has been an instant hit,” says Pilavachi. “It’s a success of epic proportions for classical music. It was the best-selling classical recording in the world from 2015. And it’s the best-selling recording of any type in Korea in 2015 and that’s unbelievable for a young man who was hardly known before.”

“Seong-jin, obviously his success here in Korea is beyond phenomenal, but he has been very successful around the world too. So far we have sold over 130,000 albums worldwide, 85,000 of them here, so the rest were sold in other countries around the world. That is a serious number.”

“Some of the world’s superstars don’t even sell that much anymore. Here, the success was instant and explosive. In other countries, it will take a bit longer.”

According to Pilavachi, Korea had developed an international reputation for producing several of the classical world’s most renowned musicians, even before Cho’s win that put a spotlight on the Korean classical music scene.

“I have been coming here since 1983. There are so many new concert halls, so many new orchestras that have developed over the last three decades, it’s a complete transformation.”

“Europe is always going to be the heart of classical music because after all Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, they were all European and you cannot take that away. But when it comes to performers, orchestras and so on, Korea stands out because of the incredibly rapid development over the last 25 to 30 years, which in classical music terms is very quick,” he says. 

“The fascinating thing about Korea is the explosion in the number of high-quality artists in all areas of classical music -- both instrumental and vocal,” he continued. “You just have to look at any competition in the world today, there’s a very high percentage of Korean participants; with many ending up in the semifinals, finals and even as victors.”

In his work with Deutsche Grammophon, Pilavachi has worked with some of the nation’s most acclaimed classical artists including piano legend Paik Kun-woo, soprano Sumi Jo and maestro Chung Myung-whun.

“All of these artists, are not just popular in Korea, but also have an extremely strong reputation and following overseas,” he says.

“I most recently worked with Chung Myung-whun, who I considered an absolutely great conductor, and it’s a real shame that his relationship with the Seoul Philharmonic has ended,” Pilavachi added. However, the record label will continue to work with Chung and other orchestras, he said. “He’s going to be conducting the first studio release of Seong-jin Cho, with a great German orchestra -- the Staatskapelle Dresden,” Pilavachi said.

The pianist, who recently signed a five-year contract with Deutsche Grammophon for the release of five albums, is scheduled to start recording Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Chopin’s four Ballades under the baton of maestro Chung Myung-whun in April.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)