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The American-born recorder player and conductor, Leonard Minsuk Kwon (Korean: 권민석), was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, where his parents were during their PhD Program (father-physics, mother-nursing) and the family moved back to South Korea when he was 7. He studied the Recorder at Korea National University of Arts as a pre-college student, and Musicology at Seoul National University College of Music. During this time, he was deeply inspired by the iconic conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as well as by the European Early Music Movement and its pioneer; the celebrated Dutch conductor and recorder player Frans Brüggen. Ultimately, this would motivate Kwon to continue his studies in the Netherlands. Specializing in Recorder and Early Music under the tutelage of Reine-Marie Verhagen, Kwon was awarded a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the Early Music department of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2017, he completed a Bachelor’s in Orchestral Conducting from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He has been mentored by world-renowned conductors including Ed Spanjaard, Jac van Steen and Kenneth Montgomery, and in 2019, successfully completed the prestigious National Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting (NMO).
Leonard Kwon served as the Assistant Conductor in four productions by the Dutch National Opera Academy; W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Kulenty’s The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams, and Massenet’s Cendrillon. For two consecutive years, he was one of three candidates selected to work with the Orchestra of the 18th Century during the Young Conductors Project 2016 and 2017. A rising talent, Kwon participated in master-classes taught by renowned conductors, such as Daniele Gatti, Johannes Schlaefli, Michel Tabachnik, Nicolas Pasquet, Marc Albrecht and Jorma Panula.
For their production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore at the Bredeweg Festival in 2019, Leonard Kwon was appointed Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also the Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, and the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra in South Korea. He recently made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, as the Conductor of a chamber music ensemble during the Children’s Concert for the 2020-2021 season. He also works as conductor at the Royal Conservatoire’s Athenaeum Chamber Orchestra, an orchestra comprised of highly gifted young musicians from the School for Young Talent (SvJT).
Leonard Kwon is recognized as an exceptional recorder player. He first rose to prominence in 2009, when he was awarded First Prize and Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Compulsory Contemporary Work at the Montreal International Recorder Competition. He is also the recipient of an award from the Society of Recorder Players/Moeck International Recorder Competition.
Leonard Kwon has often toured as a soloist with the JK Ensemble and the Collegium Musicum Hanyang, performing Antonio Vivaldi and Georg Philipp Telemann concertos. He was also invited to play works by J.S. Bach and Isang Yun, as well as modern electro-acoustic improvisations, at Seoul’s landmark venue KumHo Art Hall for a classical music frontier project series.
Leonard Kwon currently resides in the Netherlands, and is the co-founder of Early Music ensemble Concordi Musici. With record label Audioguy, Concordi Musici have recorded two CD's of late Italian and German Baroque music, which have been warmly praised by critics. |
