Principal Guest Conductor Choi Sooyeol
The Seoul Metropolitan Gugak Orchestra at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts announced on the 12th that it will present the second stage of its Re-Project, "Rediscovery of Jangdan," which explores new possibilities in Korean traditional orchestral music, together with principal guest conductor Choi Sooyeol. The performance will take place on the 26th at the Sejong Center M Theater.
Conductor Choi Sooyeol, who is actively engaged in the classical music scene, continues to experiment by approaching Korean traditional orchestral music from a contemporary perspective rather than confining it within the boundaries of tradition, and explores the possibilities of creative expression. This performance will shed new light on the repetition and flow of jangdan (traditional rhythmic patterns), as well as the language of sensation and time.
The concert will feature "Ensemble Piece No. 3" by composer Kim Heejo, regarded as a classic in creative Korean traditional music, alongside the commissioned new work "Unselected Ambient Loops 25-25" by composer Lee Hanuel, the first prize winner of the Bartok International Competition. By presenting both a classic and a new composition, as well as tradition and modernity, the concert will offer a cross-generational musical dialogue.
"Ensemble Piece No. 3" (1987) by Kim Heejo (1920?2001), the third director of the Seoul Metropolitan Gugak Orchestra and a pioneer of creative Korean music, is a single-movement work featuring a jeongak-style prelude and organically flowing traditional jangdan such as gutgeori, taryeong, and jajinmori. Instruments such as daegeum, piri, gayageum, and yanggeum unfold elegant melodies over various rhythmic patterns, and in the latter part, taepyeongso and neunggae rhythms create a festive atmosphere. This piece presents both the identity and the potential for expansion of Korean orchestral music through the harmony of traditional rhythms and contemporary structure.
Following this, "Unselected Ambient Loops 25-25," a new work by composer Lee Hanuel (born 2006), deconstructs traditional jangdan and reconstructs them with contemporary rhythmic language. Lee Hanuel, a next-generation musician who has received attention by winning first prize as the youngest participant in the JoongAng Music Competition and the Bartok International Competition, presents her first orchestral piece for Korean traditional instruments with this work. By embodying repetition and the flow of time in a living, organic structure and experimentally exploring the physicality and sonic potential of traditional instruments, this piece offers a new perspective on jangdan.
Tickets for the Re-Project "Rediscovery of Jangdan" are priced at 40,000 won for R seats and 30,000 won for S seats, and are available for purchase at Sejong Culture Ticket and other ticket outlets.
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