Music festival to kick off Olympic excitement

APD NEWS

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The annual PyeongChang Winter Music Festival will kick off next week in Seoul to welcome the upcoming, highly-anticipated Winter Olympics, the organizers said Wednesday.

The festival titled "A Musical Salute to PyeongChang" is scheduled to run in Seoul and four cities in Gangwon Province, where the Olympic host city of PyeongChang and sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon are located, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 16.

Started in 2016, the festival is a spinoff of the annual PyeongChang Daegwallyeong Music Festival launched in 2004, which was aimed at promoting the country's first hosting of the Winter Games.

Artistic director and violist Chung Kyung-wha (R) speaks during a press briefing in Seoul on Jan. 24, 2018, about the PyeongChang Winter Music Festival.

"Ahead of the upcoming Olympics, we would like to share this excitement that fills the country through music," Chung Kyung-wha, one of the festival's two artistic directors and a globally renowned violinist, said during a press briefing in Seoul.

"We've organized the program to be as diverse as possible so that people who don't often listen to classical music can also enjoy and celebrate the opening of the Olympics together," she said, noting the festival boasts a wide range of musical arts including dance, jazz, harmony, classical music and pansori, Korean traditional musical storytelling.

The other director, cellist Chung Myung-wha, the older sister of the violist, explained that the festival will feature the world premiere of two ballet performances, "Iris" and "Restless Love," choreographed by ballerina Kim Yoo-mi.

"PyeongChang Heung-Bo-Ga," composed by Lim Jun-hee, will also premiere at the festival. The music is a crossover of panrori and classical music featuring pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun, cellist Chung Myung-wha, pianist Kim Tae-hyung and percussionist Cho Yong-su, who plays the janggu, a traditional Korean drum.

The composer Lim said she made the music to uphold the Olympic spirits of peace and harmony and celebrate the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, while also showing "the essence, humor and wit of Korean traditional music in front of people from all around the world."

Musicians perform during the 2017 PyeongChang Winter Music Festival in the concert hall at the Alpensia Ski Resort in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province on Feb. 15, 2017, in this photo provided by public relations company PRM.

On the possibility of collaborating with North Korean musicians during the festival, the violinist Chung said she didn't think it would be possible due to time constraints.

"It will be like dreams come true ... But we can't make it happen by meeting them just for a few hours," she said.

The two Koreas will run joint cultural programs to celebrate the Olympics. Seoul confirmed Wednesday that the North will hold art performances at the Gangneung Arts Center in Gangneung on Feb. 8 and the National Theater of Korea in Seoul on Feb. 11.

The two directors, who have been at the helm of the festival since 2012, said they would step down when the winter festival ends in order to fully dedicate themselves to their musical activities overseas.

The festival kicks off at the Seoul Arts Center next Tuesday and runs until Feb. 16 at the Chuncheon Culture & Art Center, the Wonju Baekun Art Hall, the Gangneung Arts Center and the Festival Park in PyeongChang.

(YONHAP)