Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Wrapping up year with solemn beauty of royal ancestral ritual
National Gugak Center presents its year-end performance “Jongmyojeryeak” from Dec. 20 to 25 (except on Monday). The largest number of musicians and dancers will join the performance. Courtesy of National Gugak Center
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
One of the special ways to wrap up the past year and contemplate the coming year is probably attending a good-quality year-end concert, allowing oneself an opportunity to create a space and time for one's own relaxing moment with music.
The National Gugak Center's year-end concert “Jongmyojeryeak,” traditional royal ancestral ritual music, will provide audience members to have their own solemn and calm meditation-like relaxation, as they ponder on the meaning of life, history and ancestors.
Jongmyojeryeak is Korea's traditional royal ancestral ritual and its music is annually held at Jongmyo ― a symbolic Confucian shrine dedicated to deceased kings and queens of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom.
The centuries-old ritual and its music were designated as Korea's National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 1 back in 1964, as well as UNESCO-listed intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The centuries-old ritual was designated as Korea's National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 1 back in 1964, as well as UNESCO-listed intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Courtesy of National Gugak Center.
The ritual consisting of various music and dance performances is officially performed once a year every May at the shrine located in central Seoul.
However in an effort to provide a calm and awe-inspiring occasion for audiences at the end of the year, the National Gugak Center has decided to bring this ritual on stage in late December, hoping to relay ancestors' wisdom and artistic legacies through the performance.
“Jongmyojeryeak was a country's representative ritual, praying for the nation's prosperity and stability, while commemorating ancestors' legacies through our own music and dance,” the gugak center's chief Lim Jae-won said.
“I hope audiences can resonate with precious intrinsic values of filial duties, love for humanity and harmony of a family that this royal ritual had wished to achieve through its tradition.”
Official poster for the year-end performance / National Gugak Center
The gugak center-affiliated Court Music Orchestra and Dance Theater will join together to perform this precious cultural heritage that lasted over 600 years in Korea.
All 60 members of the Court Music Orchestra and 32 members of the Dance Theater will perform, magnifying the grandeur and majestic color of the ritual.
This year-end concert will also include a video screening on the introduction of Jongmyojeryeak to audiences.
They will also have a chance to closely watch traditional music instruments used in the ritual and play them themselves, as various instruments will be displayed in the lobby for audience members to see up close.
The 90-minute concert will be performed from Dec. 20 to 25, except on Monday, at Yeakdang, located inside the National Gugak Center in southern Seoul.
The year-end concert will be held at 8 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays or holidays. Admission fees vary from 10,000 won to 30,000 won.