Composer Henry Cheng (centre) leads a performance of his “Suite to Army”, a 15-minute-long piece drawing on BTS hit songs and classical greats such as Bach and Wagner, at “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul” in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng
Composer Henry Cheng (centre) leads a performance of his “Suite to Army”, a 15-minute-long piece drawing on BTS hit songs and classical greats such as Bach and Wagner, at “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul” in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng
K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop
Lifestyle /  K-Pop

BTS songs and classical music merge in Suite for Army, a composer’s ode to the K-pop boy band

  • When Henry Cheng set out to discover why BTS are so popular, he didn’t expect to fall in love with them himself and write a 15-minute piece dedicated to them
  • ‘Suite for Army’ draws on the band’s hit songs and classical greats such as Bach, Chopin and Wagner. A work focusing solely on Beethoven is in progress

Tamar Herman in United States

Updated: 3:52am, 8 Aug, 2022

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Composer Henry Cheng (centre) leads a performance of his “Suite to Army”, a 15-minute-long piece drawing on BTS hit songs and classical greats such as Bach and Wagner, at “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul” in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng
Composer Henry Cheng (centre) leads a performance of his “Suite to Army”, a 15-minute-long piece drawing on BTS hit songs and classical greats such as Bach and Wagner, at “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Seoul” in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Courtesy of Henry Cheng
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