CULTURE LINE
Hong Hei-kyung to return to Korean opera stage
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Hong Hei-kyung
Lyric soprano Hong Hei-kyung will take the Korean operatic stage next month for the first time in 10 years.
Hong is set to appear as Countess Rosina Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s four-act opera “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Seoul Arts Center from May 8-10.
The Korean singer gave a recital in Seoul last year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her Metropolitan Opera debut, but “Figaro” will mark her first operatic performance since her appearance in Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme” in 2005.
Hong, 56 this year, was the first Korean to win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1982, and in 1984 made her Met debut as Servilia in Mozart’s opera “La clemenza di Tito.” The Met has served as Hong’s main stage for the past 30 years.
Baritone Ryan McKinny will take on the role of Count Almaviva, and rookie Lyubov Petrov the countess’ maid, Susanna. Bass Sim Ki-hwan will appear as Figaro, personal valet to the count.
Kim Suk-hoon cast as Admiral Yi Sun-sin in ‘Jingbirok’
Kim Suk-hoon
State-run KBS TV announced Monday that actor Kim Suk-hoon will star as Admiral Yi Sun-sin from the Joseon Kingdom era (1392-1910) in the popular historical drama “Jingbirok.”
“We’ve decided to cast Kim as Yi in the drama as he is an excellent actor and photogenic. We expect Kim to create his own interpretation of Yi,” KBS said in a statement.
Coming on air in February, “Jingbirok” (Book of Corrections) revisits the Korean-Japan Imjin War (1592-1598) with Joseon’s Prime Minister Yu Seong-ryong as the main protagonist (played by actor Kim Sang-joong). The title of the drama is named after Yu's war memoir of the same title. The original manuscript of the book is National Treasure No. 132. On Monday, KBS finalized its choice to play the admiral who has a pivotal role in steering the kingdom to victory.
Making his debut with SBS TV’s historical drama “Hong Gil-dong,” in 1998, Kim has starred in numerous dramas, including “Ruby Ring,” “Twinkle Twinkle” and “Tomato,” as well as the popular film “The Legend of Gingko.”
Kim will appear in “Jingbirok” starting this Saturday.
450 films from '40s to '80s cinemas rediscovered
Old lost Korean movies which were released between the 1940s and 1980s were discovered, the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) said Tuesday.
KOFA said Han Kyu-ho, a retired film distributor, has donated a total of 450 films. By the request of the donor, the films will be managed by KOFA.
“As KOFA has been criticized for the lack of a Korean film collection, this is a very meaningful moment as we can now fill in the blanks of Korean film history,” KOFA said in a statement.
Among those rediscovered films are director No Pil’s 1949 work “Pilot An Chang-nam”; Korea’s second female director Hong Eun-won’s 1962 film “A Female Judge”; director Jung Jin-woo’s 1962 debut film “The Only Son”; and director Choi Ha-won’s 1968 work “Trees Stand on Slope.”
KOFA added that five of the rediscovered films will be screened within this year.