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

Reading Time:3 minutes

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

Published: 4:15pm, 5 Aug 2022Updated: 3:52am, 8 Aug 2022

When he started listening to BTS’s music during the Covid-19 pandemic, Henry Cheng didn’t expect to end up writing a 15-minute-long suite of classical music based on it.

But the composer-conductor fell in love with the K-pop boy band while attempting to discover why so many people love their music. The result is Suite for Army, which infuses classical greats with BTS hits and B-sides.

The work premiered at an exhibition titled “Beyond the Scene” at the Total Museum in Seoul, South Korea, on July 13. The exhibition tied into another event, “BTS: The Third Global Interdisciplinary Conference”, a gathering of BTS fans and experts, also held that month.

Cheng, who is the artistic director of the Klangkraft Orchestra in Duisburg, Germany, began contemplating BTS’s musical impact after his wife, art curator Joanne Kim, became involved with the 2020 art project Connect, BTS, spurring Cheng’s interest in their musical messages and philosophy.

BTS perform Butter at the Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, the US, on April 3, 2022. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

When orchestral performances came to a halt because of the coronavirus, Cheng began to analyse BTS’s work and their impact from the perspective of his classical background.