President Moon Attends New Year's Concert... 2,350 Attendees from Politics, Business, and Media

Artists with Disabilities, 'Diverse Families', General Public and More Participate... New Year's Concert to Air on KBS1TV on the 19th Afternoon

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] President Moon Jae-in and the First Lady attended the New Year's concert held on the 8th at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, under the theme of 'Harmony of Sounds, Resonance of Hope.' The event was held with the meaning that just as various sounds blend to create beautiful harmony, in the new year, the diverse voices and wishes of our society will come together to resonate as great hope.

The event invited figures from politics, business, diplomacy, culture and arts, media, and religion, as well as officials commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, the 60th anniversary of the April 19 Revolution, and the 40th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Movement. About 430 people were invited, including disabled artists, various family types (multicultural families, single-parent families, unmarried mothers, adoptive families, grandparent-headed families, youth-headed families, and North Korean defectors), and families from dementia centers. Including the general public participating through online ticket purchases (10,000 KRW), a total of about 2,350 people joined the event.

The event invited citizens embodying the meanings of ‘harmony’ and ‘hope.’ Various families were invited, including the family of Kim Hong-rae and Lee Seol-ah, who adopted three children and established the ‘Healthy Adoption Family Support Center.’ Student Choi Min-seo, who participated in the Dream Orchestra for marginalized youth and was admitted to Korea National University of Arts (majoring in horn in the instrumental music department), also attended; she volunteers to teach younger students in her hometown during vacations free of charge.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The concert opened the energetic start of the new year with ‘Dawn,’ a creative orchestral piece by Korean composer Lee Young-jo expressing the scene of the first sunlight breaking through. The first part, ‘Harmony,’ featured a brilliant fusion of different generations and instruments with Im Dong-hyuk (piano), Jo Jin-joo (violin), and Yang Sung-won (cello) performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

The second part, ‘Resonance,’ began with ‘Biikryeolli,’ where the sounds of traditional Korean instruments haegeum and daegeum were presented alongside the orchestra. Following this, soprano Jo Sumi’s ‘Spring Sound Waltz’ conveyed the meaning of energetically welcoming the spring of the new year when all things come to life. Tenor Kim Woo-kyung sang ‘You Are My Everything’ and the Korean art song ‘Face,’ urging remembrance of the precious figures in our history.

Soprano Jo Sumi’s ‘The Water is Wide’ and the duet ‘Tonight’ by tenor Kim Woo-kyung expressed hopes that the Year of the Rat would be filled with love. Finally, the third part of the creative cantata ‘Light of the East,’ titled ‘Hope (희),’ commemorated the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement and the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, featuring a grand chorus by young musical talents Ahn So-myung, Yang Je-in, and the National Chorus.

Meanwhile, this performance was the first New Year's concert to provide on-site sign language interpretation. It is scheduled to be broadcast on KBS 1TV on the 19th from 5:40 PM for 80 minutes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.