Ensemble Ditto will perform its last season in June after a 12-year run, with its members scheduled to part ways after a final festival titled “Magic of Ditto.”

The all-male chamber ensemble was founded in 2007 in an effort to introduce classical music to a wider, younger public. Star violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill teamed up with a number of other young artists, presenting audience-friendly and innovative programs in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia. 

Since 2009, the ensemble has hosted the annual Ditto Festival and is credited with having opened up a new era for classical music in Korea. It enjoyed great popularity, packing the 2,000-seat concert hall at the Seoul Arts Center on numerous occasions.

According to agency Credia Music & Artists, the ensemble will play its last season this year because “the members are to start new, individual beginnings.”

The last Ditto Festival will run June 12-29 at the Seoul Arts Center and the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Center.

Goyang, about an hour’s drive northwest of Seoul, was chosen to build on the success of last year’s festival, when the ensemble performed with 1,000 local students in Ansan, an industrial city southwest of Seoul.

In “Magic of Ditto,” O’Neill will perform in a recital with pianist Jeremy Denk. The ensemble will present “Ditto Chronicle,” a repertoire that highlights its work over the past 12 years. It will also perform contemporary classical music pieces at “Different Ditto.”

Ticket prices for the festival vary from concert to concert and range from 30,000 to 100,000 won ($88). For more information, visit the website at www.dittofest.com.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)