A group of Korean singers joined by the acclaimed SA choirs set the stage for special concerts to celebrate the first-ever Korea-Africa Summit last weekend in Johannesburg and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).
Special concerts celebrating the cultural richness of South Africa and South Korea were held last weekend, 10 & 12 May, in Johannesburg and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).
The concerts presented a cultural collaboration between singers from South Korea, Ensemble Enus, and the acclaimed Johannesburg Jeugkoor/Youth Choir and Nelson Mandela University Choir bringing enchanting musical harmonies interwoven from two countries together on the stage. Their performances were also accompanied by SA’s top instrumentalists: the Brooklyn Theatre Salon Ensemble in Johannesburg and distinguished instrumentalists in Gqeberha respectively.
This monumental cultural collaboration was organized as a celebration to commemorate the first-ever Korea-Africa Summit that is scheduled to be held in June this year in South Korea.
For this event, a group of Korean singers, Ensemble Enus, who perform on international stages was invited to set the stage with the internationally acclaimed South African choirs.
In these special concerts, the Korean singers and the South African choirs performed traditional Korean folk songs, contemporary art songs of Korea, and international choir classics by great South African composers such as Péter Louis van Dijk and John Knox Bokwe as well as famous opera arias and musical numbers.
The highlight of the concerts was when all performers of Korean singers and SA choirs performed ‘Plea from Africa’ by internationally celebrated South African composer John Knox Bokwe as the finale of this monumental event, cementing the ground for the ongoing and future friendship and partnership between the two countries.
Prior to the concert, there also was an accompanying reception event where the guests were invited to experience various aspects of Korean culture including traditional Korean clothes (or ‘hanbok’), Korean food, and K-pop performances.
The concerts were organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Cultural Centre in South Africa (KCCSA), in partnership with the Nelson Mandela University.
Korean Cultural Centre in South Africa (KCCSA) | 주남아공한국문화원
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