Category: Media & Performing Arts

As the world turns to Korea for the November G20 Summit, The Korea Society hosts a musical salute reflecting the journey to Seoul: royal city, global city. Returning to The Korea Society stage, young kayagŭm great Rami Seo, who has played with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, explores world rhythms. Seo “journeys” from New York’s jazzy 57th Street to the hills of Andalusia, from Israel to the Mongol steppe. Joined by guests Deep Singh (tabla), Mi-hye Yoon (synthesizer), and Joonsam Lee (contrabass), Seo “arrives” at Korea through a northern port, her nod to her hopes for unification, and concludes the journey in magical, musical Seoul, as it welcomes the G20 leaders.

Thursday, November 4
6:00PM Refreshments
6:30PM Performance

Global Music Korea: Flourishes
Saluting the Seoul G20 Summit

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor

$10 (Members/Students); $20 (Guests)
(Walk-in registration will incur an additional charge of $5)

For more information or to register for the program, please call 212-759-7525, ext. 355.

The Korea Society welcomes young gifted greats from New York’s famed Juilliard School in its 2010-2011 Young Visions, Young Voices series. Classical violinist Brian Bak opens the series with a solo performance of Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, Ysaye’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27, and Paganini’s Caprice No. 24.

Bak is recipient of the C.V. Starr and Samsung Scholarships and studies with Professor Hyo Kang, founding artistic director of International Sejong Soloists. Bak has appeared as a featured soloist with symphonies nationwide.

Thursday, October 21

The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue@57th Street, 8th Floor

The movements of Korea’s classical dance tradition reflect the essential rhythms of life in Korea. The exuberant yott’aryongch’um (Taffy Peddler Dance) walks audiences through the bustling marketplaces of Korea, while meditative, deeply symbolic performances such as the hwahyonmu (Lotus Dance) and sungmu (Monk’s Dance) explore the country’s deep Buddhist roots. From the gentle, gliding grace of the opening chaech’onmu (Choson Court Dance) to the thunderous drumming of the closing p’unggo, the dancers and musicians of the Chae Hyang Soon Dance Company display the strength and energy of Korean tradition.

Dynamic Korea: Dance & Song
Performances by the Chae Hyang Soon Dance Company

Sunday, 19 September || 3PM
Queens Theatre in the Park, New York, NY

Tuesday, 21 September || 1:30PM
St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH

Friday, 24 September || 8PM
Alabama Asian Cultures Foundation/Virginia Samford Theatre, Birmingham, AL

Sunday, 26 September || 4PM
Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Tuesday, 28 September || 7:30PM
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

DISCOUNT for TKS members.

The Korea Society kicks off a rich autumn season of performing arts with percussionist Vongku Pak on traditional drum, or changgu, Eddy Jo Martinez on guitar, and Jorge Mesa on bass. This scintillating trio will perform a sizzling hour of rhythms, beats, and blues to mark this fall’s G20 leaders summit in Seoul. Come celebrate Korea—a crossroads of music and meeting place for world leaders—with this soulful summit salute. Pak opens with Sulganggo, a Korean hour-glass drum solo to “call the world to Korea,” followed by a blend of kutkǒri, ch’ilch’ae, and jajinmori rhythms.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

“…It would speak to the seasons.” Join us for a rich evening of time circling through the elegant sounds of Rami Seo’s kayagǔm. Powerful at times, passive at others, Ms. Seo’s stringed wonder takes us from spring through summer, to autumn’s passing and wintry embrace…and back again to spring. Relax amid the contemplative sounds and relish the rich history of the kayagǔm.

Thursday, May 20, 2010
6:15 PM Check-in
6:30 PM Recital

“If This Kayagŭm Could Talk…”
Kayagŭm Recital

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor

$10 for members and students; $20 for nonmembers
(Walk-in registration will incur an additional charge of $5)

For more information or to register for the program, please contact Heewon Kim or 212-759-7525, ext. 355.

If this kayagǔm could talk…

If this kayagǔm could talk
It might tell tales…
Of kings that ruled
In gilded courts,
Bent peasants
Out in the fields,
A nameless ki-saeng
With her private audience,
A famed musician
Whose song is legend;

Or it might tell
Of untried dreams,
And uncounted hours,
Unspoken truths,
And unshed tears…

If this kayagǔm could talk
You just might hear
The unstrung words
To my heart’s impetuous song;
Within each measure
My unrelenting pulse;
My palpable Joy
Resonating…
Beneath my weeping fingertips.

-Michelle C. Yoon

LIVE HOUSE KOREA is made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.