K-Music Festival 2024

Changgeuk Lear

Performing Arts

Opening Show by National Changgeuk Company of Korea

THU 3 OCT – SUN 6 OCT l Barbican Centre Hall

Following their tremendous run at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2023, the National Changgeuk Company of Korea returns to the UK to open the 2024 K-Music Festival with an outstanding production of Lear.

This critically acclaimed production restages Shakespeare’s familiar story in the form of Changgeuk. Changgeuk is a culturally significant and artistically rich theatrical music form in Korea that blends music, dance, and drama to create an immersive storytelling experience rooted in Korean tradition and heritage.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

‘Scintillating from start to finish’

(The Guardian on NCCK’s Trojan Women at the 2023 Edinburgh International Festival )

Leading creatives include director and choreographer Jung Young-doo, Pai Sam-shik, one of the greatest playwrights of Korea, Pansori scores composed by Han Seung-seok, with music written by Jung Jae-il (Parasite, Squid Game). Lee Tae-Sup’s stunning set design brings a quiet but vibrant world of water on stage, drawing us to the deep, bottomless abyss of the human mind.

The National Changgeuk Company of Korea (NCCK) is part of the National Theater of Korea, and it has been presenting traditional Korean opera for the past six decades. This programme is presented in partnership with the Barbican and NCCK.