Set to “Overture” from Jacques Offenbach’s opera “Orpheus within the Underworld,” a conductor turns from the rostrum to sign the viewers to settle down. Going through the orchestra once more, he hops evenly with arms unfold extensive, his legs transferring as if waltzing to the rhythm, in a YouTube video that went viral.
Because the piece builds towards its finale, the pounding drums develop louder and his actions extra intense. His arms shake vigorously, virtually as if he had been a shaman trying to attach with the spirit world.
The Korean conductor is Baek Yoon-hak of the Seoul Festa Philharmonic Orchestra. Lots of his movies have went went viral, with one short-form surpassing 10 million views. The sudden fame turned him right into a social media sensation, incomes him an invite to the favored speak present “You Quiz on the Block,” hosted by Yoo Jae-suk.
Conductor Baek Yoon-hak / Courtesy of Sejong Middle for the Performing Arts
Many viewers had been drawn to his unconventional conducting fashion, dubbing him the “dancing conductor.” Feedback additionally praised the way in which he introduced visible pleasure to classical music.
However is he actually dancing? It is among the questions Baek hears most frequently. His reply isn’t any.
“I’m not dancing. In dancing, you progress together with the music,” Baek advised The Korea Instances in an interview in Seoul, Wednesday. “As a conductor, my function is to guide the music.”
He mentioned his gestures are rigorously calculated via detailed research of the rating.
“Each motion has a purpose behind it. I consider audiences sense the correlation between the music and the motion. I make that relationship seen and other people reply to it,” he defined.
What drives his motion on the podium? Is it a efficiency geared toward gaining views?
Baek factors to an outdated video from 2013, when he was conducting the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. Even then, he moved energetically — the one distinction was that he regarded a lot youthful.
What motivates him, he mentioned, is his love of music and a want to provide audiences higher enjoyment.
“I actually do like what I do and wish to convey folks nearer to music,” the conductor mentioned.
Though he’s greatest recognized for his dynamic actions, Baek adjusts his fashion to the repertoire. When conducting classical works by composers akin to Mozart or Beethoven, he stays comparatively restrained. In distinction, his actions turn out to be extra dramatic and expressive when main movie or animation soundtracks.
Conductor Baek Yoon-hak throughout rehearsal at Sejong Middle for the Performing Arts in October / Courtesy of Sejong Middle for the Performing Arts
Engineer-turned-musician
Baek’s background differs from that of many historically educated classical musicians. He discovered piano as a toddler, however solely as a interest. Excelling in arithmetic — and even profitable competitions — he entered Seoul Nationwide College as {an electrical} engineering main.
After commencement, he made a dramatic flip and reentered the college as a music pupil.
“I sang in a choir throughout faculty and one alternative to conduct planted the seed,” he mentioned, recalling the second that modified his life’s path.
His household’s preliminary response was harsh.
“My mom turned ailing [because she was disappointed at me],” he mentioned. “However per week later, my father got here to me and mentioned, ‘Thanks for being a very good son. You’re free to comply with your ardour.’ I used to be so grateful that I cried.”
After finishing his research at college, Baek moved to america to proceed his musical coaching. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and accomplished an opera teaching program at Temple College.
Conductor Baek Yoon-hak strikes emphatically throughout a efficiency with Seoul Festa Philharmonic Orchestra. Captured from the orchestra’s YouTube account
Upon returning to Korea, he took a educating place at Yeungnam College close to Daegu — a put up he nonetheless holds — whereas constructing his profession as a conductor.
Since becoming a member of the Seoul Festa Philharmonic Orchestra final 12 months, he has led a sold-out live performance collection titled “Ghibli and Disney OST FESTA.”
“I generally ponder whether that is the classical music I like,” he mentioned. “However I’ve realized if audiences take pleasure in it and contemplate it classical music, then it may be classical music.”
Gugak collaboration
A poster for the Nationwide Theater of Korea’s 2025 Winter Live performance / Courtesy of Nationwide Theater of Korea
Amongst Baek’s upcoming tasks is a seasonal live performance with the Nationwide Orchestra of Korea, mixing Western classical music with gugak, or Korean conventional music. Scheduled for Dec. 24 on the Nationwide Theater of Korea on the japanese fringe of Mount Nam, the efficiency will mark his first collaboration of this type.
“Western music doesn’t actually have the identical sense of ‘heung,’ Korean-style pleasure or pleasure,” he mentioned. “It’s extra about bursts of power. Korean music, in contrast, has a rhythmic stream — a way of pushing and pulling — giving and releasing power.”
The live performance will function works from the Korean-style orchestra’s repertoire and saxophonist Brandon Jinwoo Choi as a visitor musician.
“There might be a lot to take pleasure in, together with my actions on the rostrum,” Baek mentioned with a smile. “Please sit up for it.”
