Music festival brings Debussy to PyeongChang

Chung Kyung-wha, second from left, music director of the Great Mountains Music Festival & School, speaks at a news conference at the Grand Ambassador hotel in central Seoul, Monday. From left are pianist Son Yeol-eum, Chung and music director Chung Myung-wha. / Yonhap

By Kwon Ji-youn

The serene resort of PyeongChang in Gangwon Province continues to make headlines as it readies itself for the 2018 Winter Olympics ― but before that, a series of comprehensive chamber music festivals are to hit town in the summers leading up to the mega sporting event.

The Great Mountains Music Festival & School (GMMFS), helmed by music directors Chung Myung-wha and Chung Kyung-wha, will kick off its 22-day run on July 14 and this year it is set to feature a program that meshes the classics with the contemporaries under the theme “French Chic.”

If 2013’s GMMFS “Northern Lights ― Aurora’s Song” celebrated the brilliance of Scandinavian composers, and last year’s “O Sole Mio” observed those of the Mediterranean, this year’s festival will focus on France, a cultural hub for artists, dancers, designers and architects. As it happens, 2016 celebrates the 130th anniversary of bilateral relations between Korea and France.

“Introducing all the music of one region in just two weeks is impossible,” said cellist Chung Myung-wha during a press event at the Grand Ambassador hotel in central Seoul, Monday. “But just as we have over the last two years, we hope this year to provide audiences with an overview with performances that play up the region’s unique color, beauty and temperament.

“There is so much more to French music than Maurice Ravel or Claude Debussy,” she continued. “French music embodies the work of composers Camille Saint-Saens, Gabriel Faure and Georges Bizet, who dominated French cathedrals and opera houses during the 19th century, as well as Baroque composers of the 18th century.”

GMMFS 2015 will boast a line-up that features esteemed artists including American concert pianist Kevin Kenner, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France principal timpanist Adrien Perruchon, Korean-born harpist Lavinia Meijer and Korea’s very own Son Yeol-eum, among others. These artists have been working with a repertoire that both music directors guarantee cannot be encountered elsewhere.

Notably, the GMMFS will stage the world premieres for five performances at the multi-venue festival _ one entails an original rendition of French composer Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” by noted choreographer Gregory Dolbashian and American Ballet Theater principal dancer Seo Hee.

“This is a great challenge for me,” Dolbashian said in a video that was screened at the press event. “I’ve never had the chance to work with a score like this before. It’s interesting, very playful and it teases its audiences, almost flirting with them. I want the dance to try to reflect that quality.”

Violinist Chung Kyung-wha added, “To watch a ballet this close to the stage is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Don’t miss it.”

The highlight of the festival will most certainly be the “Distinguished Artists Series,” to feature 31 operas, oratorios and symphonies by French composers such as Hector Berlioz, Andre Jolivet and Francis Poulenc. A special stage will pay homage to Olivier Messiaen, while a separate stage will pay homage to Johann Sebastian Bach.

The music directors had two brand-new pieces commissioned for this year’s GMMFS, one of which is a piano sextet for clarinet, cello, viola, double bass, piano and timpani by French organist and composer Thierry Escaich.

Pianist Son will make her debut as a harpsichordist with Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.”

“The Goldberg Variations is one of my favorite pieces, and a piece I have always wanted to perform,” Son said.

To Son, the GMMFS is like homecoming.

“My first performance at the GMMFS was in 2011, when the current music directors took the festival’s helm,” she said. “Being originally from Gangwon Province, the GMMFS is like a homecoming for me. The festival brings music and nature together, which will undoubtedly be appealing for those who are hoping to escape the hustle and bustle of Seoul this summer.”

A big part of the GMMFS is its music school.

“Violinist Lim Ji-young, winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition’s grand prize, studied at the GMMFS’s music school over seven summers,” said Chung Kyung-wha. “From July 20 through Aug. 4, 125 gifted young musicians from 11 countries will take lessons from distinguished professors and young virtuosos, including Son.”

The two sister music directors also have performances ready, and a special stage has been set aside for the residents of Gangwon Province. Perruchon will conduct this year’s GMMFS orchestra. For more information, visit www.gmmfs.com.