Myung-Whun Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea just months before the Korean war ended in 1953. After emigrating to study in New York, he developed a reputation as the most exciting conducting talent yet to emerge from his native country. Chung has conducted most of the world's leading orchestras, and recorded with many of them. Central to his discography is the series of albums he made of French composer Olivier Messiaen’s orchestral music, where his ability to render vividly a kaleidoscopic range of orchestral colours is thrillingly evident. Clearly balanced textures combine with strong emotional engagement in Chung’s numerous symphonic recordings, where Mahler, Shostakovich and Berlioz are among the composers featured. Chung is also highly effective in opera, where his collaboration with the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo in Verdi’s Otello and his white-hot take on Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk are among his most celebrated recordings.