As Korea counts down to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, local authorities are hosting concerts to commemorate the event.

Pride of Korea, a music festival marking 100 days to the Winter Games, will take place Friday to Sunday at Yes 24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu and Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul.

Hosted by the Culture Ministry and organized by Arts Council Korea, the three-day event will bring together traditional Korean musicians, classical musicians and jazz artists. 

Won Il, a gugak composer and music director for the PyeongChang Olympic Games, will be in charge of the first day, where pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun and other gugak artists will collaborate with contemporary musicians.

On the second day, guitarist and composer Lee Byung-woo will perform music from well-known Korean movies “Mother,” “The Host” and “A Tale of Two Sisters.” Pianist Yang Byung-woo will take the stage for the second part of the night for “Flowers of K,” “Dream Railroad,” “No Boundary” and “PyeongChang Main Song.”

The third night is expected to be the highlight of the festival, with tickets selling out immediately upon their release. It features world-renowned soprano Jo Sumi and jazz vocalist Na yoon-sun, with conductor Michelangelo Mazza conducting Gunpo Prime Philharmonic Orchestra and Grande Opera Choir. 

Tickets for the concert cost 10,000 won and are available at Yes24, Interpark, Naver and Lotte Concert Hall. The Friday concert is scheduled for 8 p.m., while the Saturday and Sunday concerts will be at 7 p.m.

Another concert celebrating the 100-day countdown is to take place at National gugak Center in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

“The Prelude to the PyeongChang 2018, a D-100 Korean Arts Celebration of the Winter Olympics” will feature Cho Gap-yong, performer of traditional folk music performance Pungmul, pansori singer Lee Bong-geun and other traditional music performers. The concert is co-hosted by Arirang TV and Gugak FM and is free of charge.

Insooni will sing “Let Everyone Shine,” the theme song for the Olympic torch relay that will commence here Wednesday.

The torch, set to leave Athens, Greece, on Tuesday afternoon, is to arrive at Incheon on Wednesday and embark upon a trip across 17 Korean cities over the following 101 days.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)