Members of the Bundang Youth Orchestra perform “Waterlight Garden” at the closing ceremony of the 2025 UN Youth Environment Conference at the National Institute for International Education in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 16. (Bundang Youth Orchestra)
Members of the Bundang Youth Orchestra performed an original composition, Waterlight Garden, by 13-year-old composer Bang Seo-jun, at the closing ceremony of the 2025 UN Youth Environment Conference on Nov. 16 at the National Institute for International Education.
Waterlight Garden was inspired by the transformation of a long-abandoned sewage treatment plant in Gumi-dong, Seongnam, into a cultural complex named “Seongnam Waterlight Garden,” which opened in June. The Waterlight Garden Music Hall held its inaugural concert in July. Bang, a first-year student at Bopyeong Middle School, drew inspiration from the venue’s reopening to create the composition, capturing the site’s rebirth in music.
Bang performed the piano part himself, accompanied by Shim Min-ju, an 11th grader at BIS and Park Hye-rin, also an 11th grader at Korea International School on violin, and Oh Seo-hyun, a 10th grader at KIS on cello, as a piano quartet.
Founded in 2008, the Bundang Youth Orchestra has been active in social outreach, performing in prisons and community events. Designated a “Dream School” by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education in 2017, the orchestra celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019 and will perform again on Dec. 21 at Seongnam Arts Center with musicians with disabilities for the 2025 “Beautiful Journey” concert series.
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