Lees Cross-Border, Cross-Culture Music
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
This is the 16th in a series of interviews with the next generation of classical musicians ― ED
In February, the New York Philharmonic made a historical tour of the Korean peninsula, bringing Antonin Dvorak's ``New World'' Symphony to Pyongyang and Seoul.
While the Chicago Children's Choir wasn't able to secure an invitation to the secretive communist state, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas resounded with a beautiful Korean melody praying for peace, Friday.
Members of the 51-year-old American choir became the first non-Korean civilians to enter the Yeolsei Observation Platform in one of the most heavily armed places on Earth. The young singers, mostly in their teens, tied ribbons along the fence and sang ``We dream of Reunification'' (aka. the Reunification or Peace Song). Friday the group sang the Korean folk song ``Arirang'' and other tunes with the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Choir at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, downtown Seoul.
``I had a very ambiguous feeling. The DMZ is all about division but it was so beautiful, untouched and immaculate,'' Tim Geistlinger, a 17-year-old tenor who has been part of the choir for eight years, told The Korea Times.
Founded during the height of the American civil rights movements, the Chicago Children's Choir (CCChoir) has been at the forefront of promoting peace and tolerance. A trip to Korea, a divided nation, seemed like a natural course for a group whose international tours included post-apartheid South Africa in 1996.
``It's about world citizenship. Music is a vehicle by which we communicate, cross cultural barriers and begin the process of living harmoniously,'' said the choir's artistic director Josephine Lee. ``It's through children you make change because they are the future.''
The choir brings together children aged 8-18. Its core mission is to bring arts education to inner city schools. Those who excel take part in extracurricular choral groups and the top 90 singers sing with Lee. The CCChoir has appeared in prestigious venues all over America with artists such as Celine Dion and Bobby McFerrin.
The trip to Korea manifests the artistic and philosophical goals of not only the group but also the personal wishes of Lee.
Family Roots in North Korea
The 33-year-old Chicago native said it is important to share her Korean culture. (While not in tune with Korean pop culture, Lee is a fan of Korean-American actor Daniel Henny, who is also from the Chicago area. ``My three-month old son is going to look like him,'' she laughed).
But for Lee, touring North Korea also could have meant possibly meeting her half siblings. The director's late father was born and married in Pyongyang, but the Korean War (1950-53) forever separated his family. He then moved to the United States, where he met Lee's mother.
``Korea has so much history, pain and passion,'' she said, adding that her American husband always says that Korean food tastes the same anywhere in the world, because Koreans have such a strong sense of identity. The 55 chorists, selected from among some 3,000 in the network of Chicago choir groups, tasted Korean food and learned about Korean history and customs before the tour. During their 10-day sojourn, the children are staying with host families in Seoul and Daejeon.
Lee has been leading the CCChoir for 11 years now, having been appointed at age 23 as the youngest ever in the history of the group. Named Chorus America's first Robert Shaw Conducting Fellow in 2002, she is also an accomplished pianist, violinist and composer. Her parents had always encouraged study of the arts, and she was ``singing from day one.''
``When I walked in and heard them sing, I knew this is what I wanted to do,'' she recalled her encounter with the children when she was 22. At the time, she was in charge of teaching students in inner city schools. Shocked at the lack of arts education, she poured her heart into inspiring underprivileged children.
After a year, Lee was promoted to assume the directorship of the choir. But her stellar career was also accompanied by dark shadows. In April 2001, when she was just 25 and earning her Master's at Northwestern, Lee's mother died of colon cancer and her father passed away in November, shortly after Sept. 11. ``I had to realize what I was doing and wondered about my purpose in life. My parents were no longer there to tell me what to do,'' she said.
``My dad wanted me to become a minister, missionary. But I was always baffled by church politics and it was hard to embrace the church. Music is my `religion.' It is the source of my spirituality,'' she said. ``But it's ironic that what my parents wished for is coming true.''
The choir is about reaching artistic ends. ``It's about communicating emotions, passions and creating sounds. With the human voice you can establish a visceral connection with people that's sometimes very difficult to articulate,'' she said.
If the choir wasn't enough to keep her hands full, Lee likes to explore every dimension of music and plays in chamber groups, conducts local orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, directs various recordings and productions and gives master classes in Europe. Listed as one of the ``40 Women Under 40 Making a Difference'' (Today's Chicago Woman Foundation), the petite woman has championed the glass ceiling set by gender, age and race.
There is yet more to come from Lee. The Korean tour is a great beginning, she said, expressing her hopes to one day bring together musicians from both sides of the 38th parallel in concert.
Tonight they are performing at Daedeok Church in Daejeon. Thursday the choir will appear onstage with Korea's iconic singer Jang Sa-ik.
Friday, CCChoir will sing at Busan City Hall in a concert attended by the mayor. They will also sing with the Busan Boystown Orchestra, headed by maestro Chung Myung-whun, and at Haeundae Beach. Saturday they will sing at the Busan Cultural Center. For the latter concert, visit bsculture.busan.kr.