The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 5 from 7 p.m. will hold online its "2022 New Year's Concert." (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

By Lee Jihae

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 2 said its "2022 New Year's Concert" will be held on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. Korean Standard Time.

To be held online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the event will be livestreamed on Seoul Arts Center's Naver TV and YouTube channels and Korean Broadcasting System's (KBS) YouTube channel.

The purpose of the concert is to express gratitude to those who helped facilitate a return to normal life last year and convey a message of hope.

The concert will begin with conductor Choi Soo-yeoul and KBS Symphony Orchestra performing the national anthem, followed by "Overture to Candide," which the New York Philharmonic performed in February 2008 at a concert in North Korea's capital of Pyeongyang.

Baritone Kim Gi-hoon, who in May last year became the first Korean to win the honor of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, will perform "The Impossible Dream" from the musical "Man of La Mancha." World-renowned soprano Lim Sun-hae will follow with "Over the Rainbow" from the movie "The Wizard of Oz."

Son Yeol Eum, pianist and artistic director of "Music in PyeongChang" will play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S.125.

Areumduri Multicultural Children's Choir will begin the second half of the concert, wearing the traditional clothes of various countries to mark the centennial anniversary of Children's Day this year. They will express lyrics using sign language.

Among the new musicians to perform are pianist Park Jae-hong, the second Korean to win the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in 2021; Han Jae-min, who in 2020 became the youngest to win the cello category of the George Enescu International Competition; and violinist Shin Zia, who will jointly perform Beethoven's Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello Op. 11, 3rd Movement.

Conductor Choi and his orchestra will take songs from "Squid Game," the Netflix drama that took the world by storm last year, and the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" and reinterpret them as orchestral music. They will end the concert with "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" from Holst's The Planets, Op. 32-4.

The "2022 New Year's Concert" will be aired live KST on Jan. 5 and rebroadcast on Jan. 16 at 5:40 p.m. on the KBS program "Open Concert" for 80 minutes.

jihlee08@korea.kr