Discover Magic of Choral Music at Goyang Festival
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The ultimate musical instrument, the human voice, forms en masse a symphony orchestra ― the chorus.
The Goyang Choir Festival, the first of its kind in the country, brings together eight ensembles beginning today through Sept. 12 at Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Center, Gyeonggi Province.
The newly launched event aims to develop the quality of domestic choral music and explore new repertoires, said the Goyang Cultural Foundation.
Some 100 choristers, including members of the Goyang Civic Professional Choir and the Ansan City Choir, will open the festival tonight. The program features works including Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," in which the theme is repeated but with different vocal techniques and forms.
In order to cater to a wider audience, various pieces of music have been specially arranged for the concerts.
In the Ansan City Choir's concert on Saturday, orchestral works such as Mozart's Symphony No. 40, the overture of Rossini's opera "William Tell" and Khachaturian's violin solo piece "Sabre Dance" will be reborn through the human voice.
On Sept. 9, the Daejeon Philharmonic Choir will reinterpret solo vocal pieces such as the third of Mahler's Ruckert Lieder (five songs for voice and orchestra or piano based on poems by the German poet Ruckert), "I Have Become Lost to the World" and the fifth of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (five songs for voice based on the poems by Mathilde Wesendonck), "Dreams."
Meanwhile, the Gwangju City Choir will offer a program of a capella music from different time periods Friday, from the Renaissance and Baroque periods to modern works. On Sept. 10, Incheon City Choral will showcase Korean choral pieces that have received praise in international music events.
In addition to choristers, world-renowned singers will appear, including the Europe-based baritone Ko Sung-hyun, mezzo-soprano Yang Song-mi and baritone Park Heung-wu.
Tickets cost 10,000 won. Call 1577-7766.