New Year's Eve concerts in Seoul and Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province), will mark the end of the year and greet the coming year. Various repertoires and programs, from opera arias and symphonies to traditional Korean music and fireworks, will add the fun when greeting the New Year.

The Korean Symphony Orchestra will present a range of opera arias during its 2014 Seoul Arts Center New Year's Eve Concert on December 31. The repertoire will include "My Dear Marquis" and the overture from Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus," "Love Unspoken" from Franz Lehar's operetta "The Merry Widow" and the overture from Richard Wagner's opera "Rienzi." After the concert, fireworks will mark the turn of the year, lightening the night sky, and balloons representing dreams and hopes will rise up into the air.





After debuting at the New York Metropolitan opera in 2007, soprano Kathleen Kim has performed on world-class stages with maestros including Myung-whun Chung, James Levine and Riccardo Muti. Kim appeared with the New York Metropolitan Opera as Madam Mao in the premier of John Adams's "Nixon in China" in 2011.



Pianist Kim Tae-hyung has won a number of prestigious competitions, including the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2006 and the Long-Thibaud International Competition in 2007. Kim performed together with renowned orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra based in the U.K. and the French National Orchestra.

The Seoul Arts Center New Year's Eve Concert will start at 9:30 p.m. on December 31. For more information, please call (02)580-1300 or visit the ticket-seller's homepage (www.sacticket.co.kr).


Another New Year's Eve concert will begin at the Bucheon Cultural Foundation hall in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, at 10:30 p.m. The New Year's Eve concert by the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra has been loved by classical music fans as well as Bucheon citizens since it started. The 14th annual concert will be held in the form of an "opera gala show."

Maestro Lim Hun-joung and opera singers including soprano Yim Sun-hye and baritone Samuel Yoon will present familiar arias and choir songs.

The repertoire of opera arias will include the overture from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro," his aria "Voi avete un cor fedela" (K. 217), the aria "La calunnia è un venticello" from Gioachino Rossini's "Barber of Seville" and "Come sen va contento" from Gaetano Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love."



Conductor Lim Hun-joung, now the artistic director at the Korean Symphony Orchestra, had been a permanent conductor at the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra for 25 years, rewriting the history of Korean orchestra.

In February 2000, soprano Yim Sun-hye was heard as Barbarina in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Frankfurt Opera. From 2001 to 2004, she was a member of the Hannover Opera. Later, she performed at such prestigious venues as the Hamburg National Theater, the Berlin State Opera, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Palais Garnier in Paris.

Baritone-base Samuel Yoon was invited to the Bayreuther Wagner Festival for the first time and appeared in "Parsifal." He also starred in the opera "Tannhäuser" in 2005 and played King Herald in "Lohengrin"at the festival. He became the first Korean to be awarded an opera singer prize by Cologne, Germany.

For more information about the concert, please call (032)625-8330~1 or visit the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra's homepage (www.bucheonphil.org).


In addition, there will be two traditional Korean music concerts at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul. The NOK Unit and the Namgung Yeon K-Beat Ensemble will present the harmonies of traditional Korean music and K-pop in the main hall, Hae, at 10:00 p.m. Soul vocalist Kim Jo-han and harmonica player Jun Jae-duk will also splendidly decorate the stage.

The NOK Unit is organized with elite members of the National Orchestra of Korea (NOK), which performs traditional Korean music. They have explored new possibilities for gukak, traditional Korean music, by mixing musical elements from other genres. The Namgung Yeon K-Beat Ensemble presents traditional dance, ballet, jazz and other multimedia performances.



Earlier at 8:00 p.m. on the same day, singer Ahn Sooksun and his students will perform the pansori "Heungbuga" for the New Year's Eve Complete Pansori concert at the small hall, Dal. Pansori is a recitation of dramatic songs and Ahn is considered one of the best pansori singers in Korea.

After the concerts, spectators will be able to enjoy fireworks from 11:50 p.m. to 12:20 a.m. in the plaza in front of the National Theater of Korea.

For more information, please call (02) 2280-4114 or visit the National Theater of Korea's homepage (http://www.ntok.go.kr/english/).

By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of Seoul Arts Center, National Theater of Korea, Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra
jun2@korea.kr