Global Community

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Camarata Choir invites new members

By John Redmond Residents are encouraged to join the Camarata Choir from Jan. 29 in the Haebangchon district of Seoul near Itaewon. “Join the Camarata Music Company (CMC) this spring as either a choir member, or member of the orchestra! The Camarata Music Company Chorale will be preparing Mendelssohn's famous oratorio Elijah. Complete with choir, orchestra, and professional soloists, it will provide for a fantastic concert. The concert will be at the beginning of May. Singing experience is not necessary. As long as you can sing in pitch, that is all we need,” states a bulletin. The choir is comprised of 50-60 members that just love to sing. Members range in age and abilities, from people with degrees in music, to people who have only shower singing experience. The choir just finished their yearly tradition concert of Handel's Messiah, and received rave reviews. Over 1,357 people were in attendance, including ambassadors from various countries. The CMC Chamber Singers perform numerous concerts throughout the year, including four large events. Along with these, the Chamber

New sushi lounge Aligato opens in Itaewon

By John Redmond For a taste of good sushi and the chance to chill out in a lounge atmosphere, Aligato in Itaewon has opened its doors boasting the newest venue in the expat neighborhood. Holding its opening party on Jan. 14 with a guest list featuring a who’s who of establishment owners and entertainers in Seoul, the evening was attended by a wealth of foreign and local celebrities. Established by Dayeon Lee, the idea was to provide good food and cocktails in a relaxed atmosphere at good prices with an added bonus of good music plus a retro style lounge. With this concept, Lee put two ideas into one. Downstairs is a sushi bar where guests can enjoy a variety of choices including tuna, salmon and yellowtail, while upstairs people can relax in a retro style lounge and enjoy cocktails till the early hours. The sushi menu is comprised of individual dishes including assorted sashimi accompanied with miso soup and green tea. The rectangular shaped sushi bar that seats about 30 people also features a conveyor belt system, known locally as “revolving sushi,” where the p

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Foreignline

Art & Cook exhibition at Sejong The Art & Cook exhibition featuring 22 local artists’ works about food will finish on Jan. 29 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwangwhamun, Seoul. Among the exhibits are “sweet” photos by Koo Seong-youn, which show ponies made of candies arranged in the style of traditional Korean folk paintings, and a big balloon installation, “Breathing Apple,” by Park Sung-yeon. The works also include Han Sun-kyung’s installation and performance “Artist Sun-kyung’s Ppang.” She makes “ppang” in the shape of her face just in the way that “bungeoppang,” or fish-shaped pastry, is made. The exhibition will offer bakery classes “I Am Patissier, Too” a class that teaches children how to make cookies and “Marzapane Muffin.” “I Am Patissier, Too,” a one-hour class for children, is offered seven times a day on weekdays and costs 8,000 won, including exhibition admission. “Marzapane Muffin” is at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The exhibition is open from is 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and costs 5,000 for adults and students and 4,000

Pilgrims re-enact Korean Buddhist journey

By Simon Phillips On a cold late December afternoon after fifteen days on the road a group of pilgrims arrived at a small cave high on Wonhyo-bong peak southwest of Seoul. They had achieved the first known re-enactment in more than 1,300 years of a journey the famous Korean Buddhist saint Wonhyo made from Gyeongju to the area of the cave, which now bears his name. The idea was conceived by Tony MacGregor in 2007 when he was working in Korea as a journalist and he was accompanied by Chris McCarthy, an American Ph.D. student and the chief navigator of the group. The cave is an unpretentious place, a dark hole gouged into a huge rock, a good place to shelter from rain but not a comfortable place to spend a night. It was once venerated as the home of a mountain spirit before Wonhyo meditated in it, after which it became a Buddhist shrine honoring him. The cave provided a symbolic end to the journey, he said, and was not the actual spot where Wonhyo attained enlightenment, a place about which there is no consensus. MacGregor said the pilgrimage was a joint effort between him

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