Musical 'Heartstrings' Premieres at Dongseo University Centum Campus

The original musical ‘Heartstrings’ will premiere from the 8th to the 10th at the Sohyang Theater on the Centum Campus of Dongseo University.

‘Heartstrings’ means ‘심금’ in Korean. The work is an original musical created using the Gaya culture, which is being reexamined as a symbolic history of Dongseo harmony.

The story follows ‘Gaya,’ who inherited the bloodline of the warrior family and became the king’s bodyguard; the historical figure ‘Ureuk,’ who was ordered to create music to unite the 12 Gaya states to protect the country; and ‘Imun,’ Ureuk’s disciple who came to love Gaya. The musical sings of the spirit and love of Gaya that they tried to protect during a turbulent period.

First premiered in 2019 at the National Museum of Korea’s ‘Yong’ Theater under the title ‘Songs of Gaya,’ the performance showed its potential by achieving a 90% paid seat occupancy rate and a rating of 9.6 at that time.

The newly reborn performance as ‘Heartstrings’ was created with support from the Arts Council Korea, Busan City, and Dongseo University. It is also the inaugural performance of Dongseo Musical Entertainment, born from the ‘2023 Preliminary Artist On-site Connection Support Project.’

Musical 'Heartstrings' performance scene.

The Musical Entertainment Department of Dongseo University, responsible for developing the work, revealed their ambition to present a stage harmonizing established and new talents, centered on 20 musical students selected through the Arts Council Korea’s ‘Preliminary Artist On-site Connection Support Project,’ along with musical actors Sung Gi-yoon, Jo Yong-su, Kang Yeon-jong, and Kang Hyun-gu.

The production company IALab stated that being selected for the ‘2023 Busan City University Student Work Production Participation Support Project’ will help provide high-quality local cultural content and support the advancement and growth of local talents.

Professor Yoon Tae-sik of Dongseo University, who is directing this production, was praised as ‘the best director in the field of advanced stage technology’ for the 2022 original opera ‘Unlim,’ and plans to showcase advanced stage direction combined with video in this performance as well.

Jo Su-jin, who was selected for the lead role ‘Gaya’ through auditions, expressed her feelings, saying, “I feel the weight of responsibility being cast as the lead in a performance with university professors and famous senior actors.”

Musical actor Sung Gi-yoon expressed confidence, saying, “Look forward to the energetic performances of newcomers and the stable acting of established actors.”