Seoul Spring Fest to console Cheonan mourners
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff reporter
The 2010 Seoul Spring Festival is reaching out to heartbroken Koreans with warm string sounds.
Korea’s foremost chamber music event kicked off Wednesday with a special Children’s Day concert for kids from lower income families, and will continue through May 18.
The opening show on Friday titled ``Alla Breve’’ (in cut time) will be dedicated to the 46 sailors who recently lost their lives in the sinking of the Cheonan navy vessel.
Violinist and artistic director Kang Dong-suk and renowned Belgian pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden will play Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major by Guillaume Lekeu. Like the sailors who died too young, the Belgian composer passed away at the age of 24. The concert will be held at Sejong Chamber Hall, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, central Seoul.
On Saturday at Seoul Arts Center, the festival will host a performance of which the proceeds will go to the victims’ families. As much as this year’s edition of the festival is themed ``Unfinished Journey’’ in reference to Schubert, who lived a short life yet left behind long-lasting works, the concert will deliver ``the unfinished love story’’ of the composer. Concertgoers can look forward to hearing his most popular pieces such as the Piano Quintet ``Trout.’’ All tickets cost 15,000 won.
Other notable programs highlighting the Schubertiade theme include piano trios on Sunday. On May 14 and 16, Austrian star baritone Wolfgang Holzmair will sing Schubert’s beloved song cycles ``Wintereisse’’ and ``Die Schone Mullerin,’’ respectively. Last but certainly not least, the festival’s closing performance on May 18 at Hoam Art Hall will feature a marathon of rarely played chamber pieces by the composer.
While this year’s festival celebrates Schubert it features other interesting performances. ``Expatriats’’ on May 15 focuses on composers who had to live and compose far away from home such as Prokofiev, Chopin and Khatchaturian. On May 17, artists will play works by ``Schumann & Friends,’’ namely Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms.
The festival, held for the fifth time this year, has invited 58 artists, including premier performers and composers from near and far. Les Bons Becs, an uncanny French clarinet quintet, will give an amusing performance with a theatrical twist, ``Voyage Around the World in 80 Minutes,’’ on May 17 at Hoam Art Hall.
The festival was launched in 2006 to critical acclaim, and has grown to become a milestone in the local arts scene. Last year, the Daewon Cultural Foundation recognized its artistic director Kang for his work. The event is organized by Kang along with other premier musicians, Seoul City, the Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture and ``musicophile’’ volunteers dubbed Friends of Seoul Spring.
Tickets for all performances, except for ``Alla Breve’’ on Saturday, cost from 10,000 to 40,000 won. Concert venues include Sejong Chamber Hall, Youngsan Art Hall, Nowon Art & Culture Center, Yongsan Cultural Center and Seoul Arts Center. Visit www.seoulspring.org for more information.