The UK’s celebration of Korean music is set to return to a number of London venues this Autumn.
It has been announced the K-Music Festival will return to London from the 1st October until the 20th November, showcasing a wide variety of Korean music.
Back for its 12th year, the festival is organised by he Korean Cultural Centre UK in partnership with Serious, producers of the EFG London Jazz Festival, and will feature leading Korean and UK artists at major London venues including the Barbican, Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall, and Kings Place.
Since 2013, the K-Music Festival has introduced UK audiences to Korean musicians working at the intersection of tradition, jazz, and experimental sounds. While the festival remains rooted in fusion and improvisational music, it also supports cross-genre collaborations, including contemporary classical commissions and hybrid performances.
This year’s festival will open at King’s Place with a collaboration between Korean cellist and composer Okkyung Lee and UK-based electronic artist Mark Fell. Known for her boundary-defying technique and exploration of sonic extremes, Lee’s work blends noise, traditional Korean forms, and avant-garde composition. Her collaborators have included Arca, Swans, and Christian Marclay, and her performances have been presented at MoMA, the Serpentine, and Donaueschinger Musiktage. In this project, she joins Fell – an influential figure in digital art and experimental music – for a performance shaped by extended techniques, abstract rhythms, visceral improvisation and electronic soundscapes.
On the 5th October, JAMBINAI will perform with the London Contemporary Orchestra at the Barbican, under the direction of conductor Robert Ames. This performance will mark the first time a traditional Korean band has headlined the Barbican. Founded in Seoul in 2009, JAMBINAI are known for fusing Korean traditional instruments such as haegeum, geomungo, and piri with the dynamic power of post-rock. This orchestral collaboration represents a new evolution of their sound – blending cinematic textures with Korean folk aesthetics – and continues their long association with the K-Music Festival.
Meanwhile, on the 18th October Korean string trio Hilgeum will make their London debut at the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre, performing with British vocalist and composer Alice Zawadzki. Hilgeum – comprising Yoin Cho (gayageum), Yerim Kim (geomungo), and Somin Park (haegeum) – combine deep knowledge of traditional string performance with contemporary sensibilities. Their recent work includes the 2024 EP WASTELAND, which expands on the cinematic themes of their debut album Utopia.
Acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Park Jiha returns to the festival with her latest album All Living Things , demonstrating her command of traditional Korean instruments. Her performance will take place at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room on Sunday 25th October.
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Won Il, who opened the inaugural K-Music Festival in 2013, returns with a new interdisciplinary work, Dionysus Robot, co-presented by the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 14th at Queen Elizabeth Hall.
On the 15th November, the quartet Gray by Silver will perform at the Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall, as part of the Late Night Jazz series. Led by pianist and composer HanBin Lee, the group brings together jazz, traditional Korean music, and classical influences into an introspective and improvisational sound.
The festival will conclude on the 20th November at Barbican Hall with a major commission: the world premiere of a new concerto by composer Dong-hoon Shin, written for pianist Seong-Jin Cho and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. This performance is part of the LSO Futures series and marks a significant collaboration between two leading Korean artists in the field of contemporary classical music.
Talking about this year’s festival, Jaeyeon Park, Artistic Director of the K-Music Festival: “I’m thrilled to present an exciting and genre-defying line-up for this year’s K-Music Festival. Leading the programme is Jambinai’s Barbican Centre debut – a powerful collision of post-rock and traditional Korean sounds, made even more electrifying through a full orchestral collaboration and produced in partnership with the Barbican itself. Equally exciting is Dionysus Robot, an interdisciplinary, sensory-rich work by Won Il, a pioneer of Korean traditional music who continues to push artistic boundaries. And for the first time, we’re expanding into Korean classical music with two world-class artists: the internationally acclaimed pianist Seong-Jin Cho and the fearless experimental cellist Okkyung Lee – both pushing boundaries in their own extraordinary ways. I hope this year’s K-Music Festival offers UK audiences a chance to experience an even wider spectrum of Korean music.”
To find out more visit: https://kccuk.org.uk/en/programmes/kmusicfestival2025/