Gum Nanse

Gum Nanse (born 25 September 1947) is a South Korean conductor. In 1977, he was the first Korean to win the prize at the Herbert von Karajan Conductors' Competition in Berlin. He is currently the General and Artistic Director of the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of New World Philharmonic Orchestra. He served as the principal of Seoul Arts High School from 2013 to 2019. Gum Nanse Music Center (GMC), a concert hall dedicated to chamber music under his name, was opened in April, 2021 in Busan.

Early life
Gum was born in Busan, is the son of Suhyun Gum who was a composer and music educator. He studied music at Seoul Arts High School and studied musical composition at Seoul National University. He also studied conducting at the Universität der Künste in Berlin under Prof. Hans-Martin Rabenstein.

Career


In 1977, Gum was one of the prize winners (4th prize) at the Herbert von Karajan Conductor's Competition and was the first Korean conductor to be given an opportunity to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. Since returning home in 1980, he was appointed as the conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra for 12 years.

In 1992, he moved to Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra was a struggling ensemble and had difficulties attracting audiences to their concerts. Gum concentrated on improving the quality of the performance and on refreshing the orchestra's image.

While he was in Suwon, Gum organized a series of special concerts with Suwon Philharmonic such as the 7-hour Marathon Concert and New Year's Eve Concert at Seoul Arts Center. Also, Gum began a new educative concert series for young students in collaboration with Seoul Arts Center in 1994 titled, 'Young People's Concerts with Gum Nanse'. The concerts were particularly popular among young students and the concerts remained sold-out for six consecutive years from 1994 to 1999.

During Gum's appointment as artistic director, Suwon Philharmonic's number of concerts increased from about 10 concerts per year to more than 60 concerts per year. Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra’s turnaround soon gathered the media’s attention and in 1995, Samsung Electronics (headquartered in Suwon) built a new outdoor concert hall and rehearsal facilities for Suwon City and Suwon Philharmonic. Samsung Electronics also sponsored Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra for five years and its overseas tours in the US, Canada, UK, Spain, and Thailand (for the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok) for three years.

Since 1997, Gum has been primarily engaged in the activities of the Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra (currently the New World Philharmonic Orchestra) which he founded. Apart from New World Philharmonic, he served as the artistic director of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra (2006–10) and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra (2010–14) consecutively.

In interviews, Gum often stresses that classical musicians should be "proactive and extend their talents to the audience regardless of venues". As an example, Gum gave a series of symphonic concerts in the lobby of POSCO Center (POSCO's main headquarters building in Seoul) since 1999. In the lobby of POSCO Center, Gum and Euro-Asian Philharmonic gave concerts with programs that included complete Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms Symphonies.

In recent years, Gum has been active as a festival director. He founded the 'Music Isle Festival in Jeju’ (since 2005) and the 'Manhattan Chamber Music Festival’ (since 2012). The Music Isle Festival in Jeju joined the European Festivals Association(EFA) in 2010.

Gum is the principal of Seoul Arts High School (Seoul Yego) and regularly conducts the Korea United College Orchestra (KUCO) which consists of non-music major students from 25 universities nationwide. He also conducts the Korea Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO) which consists of young amateur musicians from 25 small provincial towns once a year.

Currently, Gum is artistic director of the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra and Hankyung Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2015, Gum was also appointed as the principal guest conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

As of now, Gum holds the positions of below:


 * Artistic director and conductor of New World Philharmonic Orchestra – since 1997
 * Artistic director and conductor of Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra – since 2015
 * Artistic director and conductor of Hankyung Philharmonic – since 2015
 * Principal guest conductor of Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra – since 2015
 * President of Seoul Arts High School (Seoul Yego) – since 2013
 * Artistic director of Raum Art Center – since 2012
 * Artistic director of Manhattan Chamber Music Festival – since 2012
 * Artistic director of Jeju Music Isle Festival – since 2005
 * Artistic director of Busan Chamber Music Festival – since 2014
 * Artistic director of Euro-Asian Music Festival – since 2015
 * Artistic director of Korea United College Orchestra (KUCO) – since 2010
 * Artistic director of Korea Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO) – since 2011
 * Chairman of Korea Orchestra Association (KOA) – since 2011
 * Honorary Consul of Slovakia - since 2017
 * Artistic Director of Gum Nanse Music Center (GMC) - since 2021

Awards and honors

 * 1977 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductor's Competition
 * 1995 Order of Culture Merit "Og-Gwan"
 * 1999 Grand Prize of Korea Music Critics Association
 * 2008 Honorary Doctorate Degree from Keimyung University
 * 2009 Grand Prize of Performing Arts Management Association of Korea
 * 2010 Hyoryung Prize – Cultural sector
 * 2011 Presidential Prize of Sejong Cultural Award – Cultural Sector

TV appearances

 * 2010. 5. 19 MBC <황금어장-무릎팍도사>
 * 2011 KBS Prime  / <키즈 클래식 오디션>
 * 2012 KBS  – Family Choir / <남자의 자격> 시즌 3 – 패밀리 합창단
 * 2012. 12. 4 KBS  – Episode 140 / <김승우의 승승장구> – 140회
 * 2014–2015 tvN  Season 1, 2 / <언제나 칸타레> 시즌 1,2

Publications

 * 《나는 작은새, 금난새》 Design House, 1996-12-31 ISBN 9788970410722
 * 《금난새의 클래식 여행》 Think Tree, 2003-9-30 ISBN 9788984982840
 * 《금난새의 클래식 여행 1》 Think Tree, 2006–10 ISBN 9788984986190
 * 《금난새의 클래식 여행 2》 Think Tree, 2006–10 ISBN 9788984987098
 * 《내가 사랑한 교향곡》 Think Tree, 2008-12-23 ISBN 9788984989238
 * 《모든 가능성을 지휘하라》 Yaekyung, 2015-3-2 ISBN 9788970845272
 * 《아버지와 아들의 교향곡》 Dasan Book, 2019-11-18 ISBN 9791130625935