KCCUK 5th Anniversary Concert

Date: Sat. 26th January 2013, 7.30pm

Venue: Cadogan Hall,5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ

Free Entry with RSVP by email info@kccuk.org.uk or phone 020 7004 2600

Details

The Korean Cultural Centre UK, based just off Trafalgar Square opened its doors in January 2008 and now 5 years on we mark this important milestone with a special concert featuring performances by some of Korea’s leading musicians and artists.

Korea has long been famous for producing incredible musical talents from all genres including the traditional, the contemporary and the classic. This special concert celebrates 5 wonderful years with a selection of stunning performances that will delight and amaze you.

Part 1

Repertoire

J.S. Bach Partita No.1 in B flat Major, BWV 825

J. Brahms Dein blaues Auge

Die Meinacht

R. Strauss Ich trage meine Mine

Heimliche Aufforderung

Bizet La fleur que tu m＇avais jetée from Carmen

Lehar Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from Das Land des Laecheln

Performers

Sunwook KIM Piano

Ji-Min PARK Tenor

Part 2

Repertoire

Pansori Jeokbyeokga (The Battle of the Red Cliffs)

Performers

Soon-seop SONG Pansori Master (Important Intangible Cultural Asset No.5 for Pansori)

Jaram LEE Pansori Singer

Geun-young PARK Drummer

Sunwook Kim Pianist

Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, he was the youngest winner for 40 years. His performance for the finals of Brahms’s Concerto No.1 with the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder attracted unanimous praise from the press, and led to concerto engagements with some of the world’s finest orchestras.

He has also appeared as concerto soloist in the subscription series of the London Philharmonic (Sinaisky), Philharmonia Orchestra (Ashkenazy), Radio-France Philharmonic (Chung), Tokyo Philharmonic (Chung), NHK Symphony, Hallé Orchestra (Elder), BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Philharmonic.

Also as a keen chamber musician, Sunwook joined the Chamber music projects in the 12/13 season including Brahms concerts in Berlin (Philharmonie) and Paris (Pleyel) with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, recitals in Italy with the German violinist Veronika Eberle, and participation in the Great Mountain Music Festival in Korea with the Michelangelo Quartet and Myung-Wha Chung.

Ji-Min Park Tenor

Ji-Min Park, a South-Korean tenor, was a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London from 2007-2009 and his Royal Opera debut as Third Esquire in Parsifal (Wagner) was followed by Gastone in La traviata (Verdi), Nathanael in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach), Pang in Turandot (Puccini) and many other roles.

Ji-Min has won several awards including the Vienna Staatsoper Special Prize, the International Belvedere Singing Competition in Austria, and First Prize and Audience Prize at the International Art Song Competition in France and the performance prize in the Stella Maris International Vocal Competition onboard MS EUROPA in 2009.

Recent performances have included recitals in La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venezia (Gala Concert) and for the Royal Opera lunchtime recital series. In the 12/13 season and beyond he makes his debut at La Fenice as Alfredo in ＇La Traviata＇, returns to Opera Australia for Ernesto in ＇Don Pasquale＇ and performs Gerald in ＇Lakme＇ in Santiago.

Soon-seop Song Pansori Master

Born in the South-West of Korea in 1936, Soon-seop began to sing Pansori at the age of 22, which is comparatively later than other pansori singers. In 1963 he studied under Master Park and learnt the ‘Simcheongga’, ‘Sugungga’ and ‘Jeokbyeokga’. After winning numerous awards including the Presidential Citation for Pansori in 1996 he was designated as the Important Intangible Cultural Asset No.5 for Pansori. As part of his duties to preserve the traditional music of Korea for the world he also teaches Pansori at Seoul National University.

Jaram Lee Pansori Singer

Jaram Lee started to learn Pansori since her debut with a very famous song Yesol, My Name at the age of 4. Her name was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records for completing 8 hour-performance of Choonhyang-ga in 1999. Since her age of 22, she has devoted herself to make audience familiar with Pansori by creating new versions of Pansori. Very talented and intellectual, she has been working in various fields of activities; leading vocalist of ‘Amado LEE Jaram Band’, former DJ of FM radio, Gayageum player, guitarist, composer, writer, and music director as well as singer of Pansori.

Pansori Traditional Korean Opera

Pansori, originated in south-west Korea in the seventeenth century, is a genre of musical storytelling performed by a vocalist and a drummer. This popular tradition, characterised by expressive singing, stylised speech, a repertory of narratives and gesture, embraces both elite and folk culture. Pansori singers undergo long and rigorous training to master the wide range of distinct vocal timbres and to memorize the complex repertories. Many virtuosos have developed personal interpretive styles and are renowned for their particular manner of performing specific episodes.

Pansori was designated a National Intangible Cultural Property in 1964 and listed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO (originally proclaimed in 2003).