Principal Conductor
Deputy Artistic Director
Keuntae Park, first prize winner of the 2022 Opéra de Baugé International Conducting Competition in France, who also received the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize, was praised by the chairman of the jury as an "A conductor with the talent to not only hear the sound of the orchestra, but also the emotions contained within the musicians, and equipped with outstanding technique".
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Born in Seoul, South Korea, David received his first violin and piano lessons at the age of five. He trained as a pianist at the Yewon School and began his piano studies with Prof. Ian Youngwook Yoo at Yonsei University, where he received a full scholarship.
In 2017 he began his piano master's degree with Prof. Gabriele Kupfernagel at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and completed an additional course with a Konzertexamen in 2021.
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As a pianist he has won awards at numerous competitions, the Grand Prix at the Franz Liszt International Competition, the Grand Prix at the Bechstein Competition, 1st prize at the Joong-Ang Competition and he has been invited to perform at many concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Liszt Hall in Budapest, Müpa Budapest, Konzerthaus Berlin, Schlosstheater Rheinsberg, Seoul Arts Center and Kumho Art Hall.
He began his conducting studies in 2018 with Prof. Christian Ehwald and Prof. Alexander Vitlin(BM) at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, where he received a scholarship from the DAAD. Since 2022 he has been studying with Prof. Steven Sloane and Prof. Harry Curtis(MM) at the Berlin University of the Arts.
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David, who has been teaching as a répétiteur at the Universität der Künste Berlin since 2018, is active as a conductor in Europe and has conducted various orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, the Philharmonic Orchestra Cottbus, the Magdeburg Philharmonic, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra, the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, the Rumanian Chamber Orchestra, the Kammerorchester Besel, the Opéra de Baugé and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
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In 2019 he assisted DSO Berlin chief conductor Robin Ticciati in Britten's <The Rape of Lucretia> and made his debut as an opera conductor conducting the same work. In June 2023, he conducted a total of three performances of Lehar's <The Merry Widow> at the Theater Lüdersdorf, receiving positive reviews as "an amazing conductor who breathes life into the music with a sophisticated ensemble". In the meantime, he has conducted Mozart <Cosi fan tutte> at the Komische Oper Berlin, Donizetti <L'elisir d'amore> at the Theater Magdeburg, Humperdinck <Hänsel und Gretel> and Puccini <La Bohème> at the Theater Cottbus.
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David Keuntae Park, winner of the 2023 KNSO Conductor Workshop and rated by David Reiland, Artistic Director of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, as "a conductor who combines reason and emotion and demonstrates outstanding perfection through skill and balance", has been appointed Principal Conductor/Deputy Artistic Director of the Neue Philharmonie Berlin from 2021/22 season.