Pianist Paik Kun Woo (center), together with Beethoven Philharmonie, performed at the “Concert for Peace” at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Nov. 8. The photo above is the pianist greeting the audience at his concert in New York in 2016. (New York Philharmonic)
By Lee Kyoung-Mi and Kim Young Shin
Musicians dedicated music in Paris to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the whole world.
On Nov. 8, Korean Pianist Paik Kun Woo and Austria’s Beethoven Philharmonie with French conductor Philippe Entremont performed at the “Concert for Peace” at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Here, musicians from Korea, France and Austria gathered and played music in a wish for world peace. They celebrated the peaceful mood on the Korean Peninsula, particularly after a series of inter-Korean summits.
Paik, representing Korea at the concert, hosted the peace concert at Dorasan Station, the northernmost station near the inter-Korean border in 2015. Based on his experience in delivering the message of peace through his music, he performed the melody of peace for the audiences in Paris.
The pianist and the orchestra played Arirang, the folk song inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list by both South and North Korea, and Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 5, also known as the “Emperor” concerto.
“The musicians from three countries presented the message of peace to the people in Paris,” said the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO, the organizer of the concert.
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