By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The Great Mountain International Music Festival & School (GMMFS), Korea's foremost summer music event, explores the meaning of song titles in its sixth edition, which opens amid the backdrop of Yongpyeong, Gangwon Province's cascading mountains from July 22 to Aug. 14.
Having attracted more than 40,000 festival goers from near and far last year, it is one of the most highly evaluated arts events by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
This year's program, titled ``What's in a name?'' includes well-known pieces as well as ones that are rarely heard of, said the event's artistic director Hyo Kang. ``I hope this will be an opportunity to experience how a composer expresses the title of a piece of music and how the audience perceives that musical scent,'' said the Juilliard professor.
The festival's most popular section, the Great Artist Concert series, welcomes back musicians of the highest caliber including members of the conductor-less ensemble Sejong and cellist Chung Myung-wha.
On July 31, violinist Chee-Yun and pianist Evan Solomon will offer Elgar's widely loved ``Salut d'Amour,'' Op. 12, while cellist Jian Wang and soprano Hyunah Yu, among others, will perform Villa-Lobos' electric mix of Bach and Brazilian musicality, ``Bachianas Brasileiras'' No. 5. The composer's good friend, Juilliard professor Aldo Parisot, will conduct the ensemble.
Concertgoers can also look forward to performances of unique works by Earl Kim, the late Korean-American Harvard professor, and conceptual composer Tan Dun, who is known for the score of ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.''
The concert on Aug. 1 features Tan's ``Ghost Opera,'' which merges Eastern and Western, pop and classical, traditional and avant-garde concepts through a conversation of string instruments and ``pipa'' (Chinese lute). The following evening, tune into Kim's ``Three Poems in French,'' which is a musical interpretation and vocalization of poems by Baudelaire and Verlaine.
The same evening, fans who enjoyed George Crumb's ``Night of the Four Moons'' last year can look forward to ``Voice of Whale.'' Inspired by the cry of humpback whales, this piece uses an Eastern musical scale and features electronic instruments.
Other notable repertoire include Shostakovich's ``Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok,'' Op. 127 on Aug. 7. Composed in 1967 for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, this piece was conceived for the cello and soprano, specifically Shostakovich's friend Rostropovich and his wife.
Elma Oliveira, the unique American violinist who won the Tchaikovsky Competition, visits Korea after a 10-year absence for concerts featuring Beethoven and Brahms, Aug. 6 and 7, respectively. The Michelangelo String Quartet makes its Korean debut at the event.
The Great Artist Series cost from 30,000 to 40,000 won. Reservations are strongly recommended as tickets are expected to sell out quickly. Veteran musicians will give master classes and lectures, which cost 10,000 won.
The event's educational leg invites 184 students from 12 countries. They will lodge together for two weeks and receive lessons from featured artists.
Cellist and Korea National University of Arts professor Chung Myung-wha, who returns for a fifth time, said ``As much as students can receive helpful advice, as a professor it is the greatest pleasure to spend time with talented students.''
The opening and closing ceremonies, to take place outdoors, as well as performances by students and rising young artists, will be free of charge. Visit www.gmmfs.com (Korean and English) or call (033) 253-7497 for more information.