7 must-see events at the K-Music Festival coming to London this autumn
Now in its twelfth year, the K-Music Festival has become the UK’s leading celebration of Korean music, showcasing some of the country’s most forward-thinking artists in London each autumn. Running from 1 October to 20 November, the 2025 edition spans major venues including the Barbican, Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall and Kings Place. The programme is characteristically wide-ranging and innovative, moving between post-rock, experimental improvisation, jazz, and contemporary classical commissions, while blurring the boundaries between them.
Spanning seven specially curated nights, K-Music Festival will showcase the breadth of Korean music today. Here’s the FLODown on what's in store.
Jambinai, K-Music 2016
Programme Highlights
Okkyung Lee with Mark Fell
The festival opens with an experimental collaboration between Korean cellist and composer Okkyung Lee and UK electronic artist Mark Fell. Known for her visceral and unconventional approach to the cello, Lee blends noise, improvisation and Korean traditional forms, while Fell brings decades of work at the cutting edge of digital art and electronic sound. This unique encounter of two musical visionaries promises a truly unmissable opening night.
Date: 1 October 2025. Location: Kings Place (Hall One), 90 York Way, N1 9AG. Price: from £9-£18 +BF. Book now
JAMBINAI with London Contemporary Orchestra
Post-rock innovators JAMBINAI return to K-Music with their most ambitious London show yet, joining forces with the London Contemporary Orchestra under conductor Robert Ames. Their fusion of folk traditions and electrifying rock sounds has made them one of Korea’s most distinctive musical exports. This Barbican debut marks the first time a Korean band headlines the venue, and it’s set to be a must-see for fans of genre-defying live music.
Date: 5 October 2025. Location: Barbican Hall, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: from £20 + BF. Book now
Okkyung Lee. © Eun Chun
Hilgeum with Alice Zawadzki
String trio Hilgeum will join forces with British singer and composer Alice Zawadzki for their London debut. Formed by Yoin Cho (gayageum, a 12-string zither), Yerim Kim (geomungo, a six-string zither), and Somin Park (haegeum, a two-string fiddle), Hilgeum are celebrated for bringing Korea’s traditional strings into bold contemporary focus. Their collaboration with Zawadzki will be a distinctive meeting of voices and instruments.
Date: 18 October 2025. Location: Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £18 + BF. Book now
Park Jiha
Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Park Jiha returns with All Living Things, her latest album of meditative, genre-blurring soundscapes. Incorporating instruments including the piri (bamboo oboe), saenghwang (mouth organ) and yanggeum (hammered dulcimer), she blends Korean traditions with minimalism, ambient music and cinematic textures. The intimate Rich Mix offers the perfect space for her evocative reflections on the textures, rhythms and quiet power of the living world.
Date: 22 October 2025. Location: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E1 6LA. Price: £20.34. Book now
Won II
Won Il: Dionysus Robot
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Won Il, who inaugurated the very first K-Music Festival in 2013, presents Dionysus Robot. This bold new work fuses Korean shamanic music, electronics, and live performance, while paying homage to the pioneering media artist Nam June Paik. Featuring drag artist Jimin Mo as a modern-day Dionysian figure, the show unfolds like a ritual where sound, movement and image collide. It’s set to be one of the festival’s most immersive and theatrical events.
Date: 14 November 2025. Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £17 +BF. Book now
Gray by Silver
Winners of Best Jazz Album at the 2024 Seoul Music Awards, Gray by Silver will perform their upcoming third album, Time of Tree, at the Royal Albert Hall. Led by pianist HanBin Lee, the quartet explore the intersection of jazz and classical music in a contemporary, improvisational style that balances stillness with energy. This London date offers a special opportunity to experience their unique sound in the atmospheric Elgar Room.
Date: 15 November 2025. Location: Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP. Price: from £16.50 + BF. Book now
Seong-Jin Cho. © Christopher Koestlin
Seong-Jin Cho: Artist Portrait
The festival closes with the world premiere of a new piano concerto by Dong-hoon Shin, written for and performed by internationally renowned pianist Seong-Jin Cho. Joined by the London Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda, this marks a major collaboration between two leading figures of Korea’s new classical generation. Expect a powerful finale that brings the 2025 festival to a close on a world-class stage.
Date: 20 November 2025. Location: Barbican Hall, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £18 - £72 + BF. Book now
For more, visit serious.org.uk/k-music-2025
Words by Sofia Carreira Wham
