Cho Seong-jin reunites with Vienna Philharmonic, a bond born from a last-minute Carnegie Hall call

Pianist Cho Seong-jin is set to share the stage once more with the Vienna Philharmonic. A partnership that began with Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, then continued with Beethoven's Third, now moves on to Beethoven's Fourth.

According to WCN, Cho will perform as soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic at Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 25.

Cho's ties with the Vienna Philharmonic — widely regarded alongside the Berlin Philharmonic as one of the world's two preeminent orchestras — run deep. Their story traces back to 2022.

On Feb. 25 of that year (local time), at Carnegie Hall in New York, Cho, 32, finished Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 to a standing ovation and returned to the keyboard for an encore: "October (Autumn Song)" from Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons." It was the night he first shared a stage with the Vienna Philharmonic.

That performance had not originally been his to give. Conductor Valery Gergiev and pianist Denis Matsuev had been scheduled to lead and perform, respectively. But on Feb. 24 — the day before the concert — Russia invaded Ukraine, sending shockwaves through the arts world. Both musicians had publicly supported President Vladimir Putin; Matsuev had also voiced support for Russia's forcible annexation of Crimea in 2014. Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic removed them from the program. The baton passed to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Metropolitan Opera, and the piano to Cho, who was then based in Berlin.

Carnegie Hall announced the substitution on the morning of the concert, saying it was "deeply grateful to Cho Seong-jin for agreeing to come from Berlin on such short notice." For Cho, it was both his first collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic and his first appearance with an orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Two days later, he wrote on his Twitter account — now X — that he had been "called in at the last minute for the Carnegie Hall Vienna Phil concert" and had shared "an unforgettable experience" with conductor Nézet-Séguin.

The connection forged in New York continued in Seoul in 2024, when Cho performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Vienna Philharmonic under conductor Andris Nelsons during the orchestra's Korea tour that October. Now, two years on, he reunites with the ensemble once again.

Tugan Sokhiev will take the podium for this performance. His collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic dates to the orchestra's 2009 Asia tour, which included a stop in Seoul, and the two have worked together consistently at the Vienna subscription concerts and on world tours since. Sokhiev has been named conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert in 2027 and has served as chief conductor and artistic adviser of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande since the 2026/27 season.

The Seoul program pairs Beethoven with Brahms. In the first half, Cho performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 — a work that sets itself apart from most concertos by opening not with the orchestra but with the piano alone, quietly stating the first chords in solitude. The second half features Brahms' Symphony No. 2, a work of warm, pastoral lyricism sometimes called Brahms' "Pastoral Symphony."