KBS Symphony Orchestra
South Korean symphony orchestra
The KBS Symphony Orchestra (KBS 교향악단) is a symphony orchestra based in Seoul, South Korea. The orchestra principally performs in the KBS Hall and the concert hall of the Seoul Arts Center.
History
The orchestra was founded in 1956 as the radio orchestra of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). Between 1969 and 1981, it became a state-run organization, changing its name to the National Symphony Orchestra of Korea. In this period, they performed chiefly in the National Theater of Korea. In 1979, they made their first tour overseas, in the USA.
From 1981, the orchestra's designation was restored to its former name, and new positions, such as general manager, principal guest conductor and full-time conductor, were established in the organization. Their subsequent overseas tours were in Southeast Asia (1984) and Japan (1985 and 1991). In October 1995, they performed in the UN General Assembly in New York City.
In 2000 and 2002, the orchestra performed with the State Symphony Orchestra of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Seoul and Pyongyang. The orchestra also held "goodwill exchange concerts" with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the China National Symphony Orchestra in 2002.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q489429. VIAF identifies the subject as 137359060. The Library of Congress control number is n94042189. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1969, 1981 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “KBS Symphony Orchestra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.