The Russian National Orchestra will visit Seoul next week to hold its first concerts here in three years.

Founder and artistic director, Mikhail Pletnev, will conduct the orchestra at the Gangdong Arts Center in Seoul on June 19. The orchestra will hold a second concert at the Incheon Culture and Arts Center in Incheon on June 20.

Programs will include Alexander Glazunov's "Suite From the Middle Ages" Op.79 and Peter Tchaikovsy's ballet suite "Swan Lake" edited by the conductor. South Korean pianist Cho Sung-jin will join the Russian musicians to play Frederic Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1.

The Russian orchestra received a warm welcome from its Korean audience for its last concert here in 2009, where it played Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6, "Pathetique"

Pletnev is an internationally renowned pianist, composer and conductor, who won the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978 at the age of 21.

More information on the Seoul concert is available on the Gandong Art Center's Web site at www.gangdongarts.or.kr or by phone at 02-440-0500.

Information on the Incheon concert is available at http://art.incheon.go.kr. (Yonhap)