Korean traditional fusion, jazz, classical music to fill Madrid this fall
Saxophonist Kim Oki / Korea Times files
The Korean Cultural Center in Spain will showcase Korean traditional fusion, jazz and classical music in Madrid next month through two back-to-back music festivals, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday.
The center will host the 2026 Korea Sound Festival and the 2026 Korean Classical Music Festival to introduce Spanish audiences to Korean genres beyond K-pop.
Held under the theme “New Rhythms of Korean Music,” the Korea Sound Festival will feature fusion “gugak” (Korean traditional music) group Jena at Sala Villanos on Nov. 1, and jazz group Kim Oki Trio with Ara at Teatros Luchana on Nov. 13.
Jena combines the sounds of traditional Korean instruments, such as the “haegeum,” a two-stringed fiddle, and the “daegeum,” a large bamboo flute, with a modern band to perform music that crosses over gugak, tango and jazz.
Saxophonist Kim Oki, a prominent figure on the Korean indie music scene, will perform with vocalist Ara and his project group. Kim, who won Musician of the Year at the 2020 Korean Music Awards, is known for genre-defying, free-form music, and will present improvisations and emotional saxophone melodies.
On Nov. 20, string group Wald Ensemble will take the stage at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the historic Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, as the second-half guest of the Korean Classical Music Festival. The ensemble is made up of young Korean musicians playing with leading European orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Earlier this year, the center held a concert by a quartet of young Korean and Spanish musicians as part of the festival.
“I hope the festivals will give Spanish audiences a chance to feel closer to Korean music and find music that suits their tastes,” said Kim Young-jo, director of the center. “We will actively support Korean musicians of various genres to meet more audiences and interact with local musicians in Spain and across Europe.”
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.