Seoul’s Other Music Festivals (Lotte Concert Hall)

Hi, today I wanted to talk about a bit of a unique experience I had in the Lotte Department mall. When I first was walking around, I was amazed at how ginamours of a space it was. There was almost 10 full floors of luxury brands, electronics, food, some attractions, and the sort. As I went to the top though, a sign saying “concert hall” caught my eye. I like classical music, but there were rarely any concerts or no super easy ways to get to the performances in Hawaii. After I went home, I decided that I would go back and see at least one concert if it had any interest for me. 

I went on the Lotte website, and there were some concerts for May, about a month and a half away. It was for Joe Hisashi’s film scores. He was the musician that composed the soundtracks for a lot of beloved movies, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away. I even have some connection playing the music, as I played the main theme of Howl’s Moving Castle for my highschool’s talent show. I knew this was a concert I’d love to hear in person. 

After booking and waiting a month, I finally returned back to the Lotte mall the day of the concert. It was insanely busy. In most of the United States or Hawaii, classical music is a genre that is underappreciated. I noticed, however, a lot of Koreans are at least more open to orchestral music. As we sat down, the hall was almost completely full, and the orchestra started to walk out, tuning their instruments. Then, the show began.

Listening to music in person is a completely different experience. For modern/digitized music, performing live in my opinion is not insanely different from listening in your car. However, live instruments, like an orchestra or the jazz band I was a part of, emit a different sound. You can simultaneously feel each instruments’ vibration, and it’s just an overall better experience in an auditorium. The concert was so good that I was dozing off a little bit, and my girlfriend had to nudge me a couple times lol. The concert was just that serene. 

They played and then we went home afterwards. I highly suggest watching a concert in the Lotte Hall if you like classical music. Thanks for reading!