Summer Filled With Accessible Classical Music Performances
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
If you are unfamiliar with classical music and feel that the genre is only for intellectuals, this summer offers a variety of opportunities to break free from the prejudice.
In an attempt to get one step closer to potential audiences, The National Opera of Korea holds its second segment of ``My First Opera’’ series Aug. 21-26 at the Towol Theater of the Seoul Arts Center.
The program consists of two one-act operas, one comical and the other tragic. Targeting the prejudice that opera is expensive and difficult to enjoy, the concert _ during which Giacomo Puccini’s ``Gianni Schicchi’’ and Pietro Mascagni’s ``Cavalleria rusticana’’ will be staged _ costs 10,000 won to 50,000 won, with a 50 percent discount for children and juveniles. For more information, visit www.sac.or.kr.
The Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra, meanwhile, stages a unique performance combining ``Peter and the Wolf,’’ Sergei Prokofiev’s famous composition for children and the namesake animation, Aug. 7-9 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.
The concert is comprised of two parts. The first includes the orchestra’s popular conductor Gum Nan-se helping audience members get a feel of how the orchestra resonates harmoniously with British composer Benjamin Britten’s ``The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.’’ In the second part, the orchestra will perform Prokofiev’s piece, ``Peter and the Wolf,’’ while the namesake animation film, a BAFTA Film Award-nominated 2006 production by Suzie Templeton, plays on a screen. Tickets cost 20,000 won to 50,000 won, and families of three or more will receive a 25 percent discount. For more information, visit www.sejongpac.or.kr.
Gum will also serve as the music director for the upcoming 2007 Muju Festival & Academy scheduled for July 22-29 at Muju Resort in North Jeolla Province. It combines indoor and outdoor ensemble and orchestra concerts with music classes given by professors invited from overseas as well as Gum. The festival is one of two classical music festivals to be held this summer based at scenic resort hotels, along with the fourth annual Great Mountains International Music Festival scheduled for Aug. 3-26 in Gangwon Province. For more information, visit www.euroasianphil.com and www.gmmfs.com.
Last but not least, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will perform Gustav Mahler’s ``Symphony No. 8 in E flat Major (Symphony of a Thousand)’’ Aug. 23 at the concert hall of the Seoul Arts Center, invited by the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation and celebrating the 15th anniversary of South Korea-China diplomatic relations.
While Mahler is not a particularly popular choice for beginners, Kumho will organize a preview lecture and DVD viewing session on Mahler and the symphony to be held Aug. 18. Anyone interested can participate in the event.
Led by music director and principal conductor Chen Xieyang, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has a 129-year-old history, with over 600 concerts held over the last 10 years. Tickets cost from 20,000 won to 150,000 won. For more information, visit www.kumhoarthall.com.