Hongpark Kim

Hongpark Kim dreamed of becoming a musician early on, but not initially of becoming a horn player:

− When I was young, I wanted to be a singer. One day I was listening to the horn sound in a concert with a friend of my sister. I thought to myself, “I want to sing with that sound.” After that, I asked to my parents to buy a horn.

After graduating from the Seoul National Univerity, Hongpark continued his studies at Mozarteum in Salzburg, where Croatian horn player Radovan Vlatkovic became his teacher.

− Of all my teachers and colleagues, Radovan Vlatkovic has influenced me the most. He makes me think of how important it is to make good sound.

Enjoys the opportunities

Hongpark joined the Oslo Philharmonic in 2015.

− My best experience so far was the opening concert of my first season, 2015/2016. We played Tchaikovsky´s fourth symphony. I was so proud of myself to be here with this great orchestra!

Brahms and Mahler are his favorite composers, but he enjoys all the opportunities he gets to playing different music:

− As a Korean hornplayer, I can play music from all over the world with Norwegian greatest orchestra and a great, Russian conductor. That is my greatest joy.

His best advice to audience members seeking a great experience is to be aware of an overlooked aspect of the music making:

− In addition to listening to the music, you should also see and feel the musicians breathing together.

In his spare time, Hongpark enjoys walking in Norwegian nature.