Kim Myung-gon Holds 'No-Guarantee' Special Performance for COVID-19 Medical Staff

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Mapo Cultural Foundation announced on the 24th that actor and director Kim Myung-gon will hold a performance titled "Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey - Live, Love, Sing" at the Seoul Mapo Music Creation Center on the 10th of next month. This is a special 'no-guarantee' performance dedicated to medical staff, firefighters, police officers exhausted from COVID-19, and community artists active in Mapo-gu.

Actor Kim Myung-gon, well known for his role as the pansori singer Yubong in the film Seopyeonje (1993), has been experimenting since 2019 with combining pansori and the Italian operatic singing technique bel canto through a series of performances including "Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey - Encounter," "Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey - Endless Voyage," "Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey - Sound Path in the Forest," and "Park In-su and Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey - In Search of Korean Art Songs and Folk Songs," continuously challenging the boundaries between Eastern and Western music.

The fifth installment of Kim Myung-gon's Sound Journey will be hosted by socialite Pi Chae-hee and feature tenor Jeong Gyu-nam, crossover soprano Kwon Ro, and singer-songwriter Lee Jeong-pyo. The performance will include musicians Bae Hye-jin (piano), Lee Jeong-pyo (gayageum), Kim Young-min (cello), and Ha Dong-min (daegeum).

The program is divided into three themes: Part 1 "Live," Part 2 "Love," and Part 3 "Sing," offering a diverse repertoire including folk songs, art songs, musicals, and opera arias. It will provide a comforting and healing experience with a variety of music such as the art song "Even If Life Deceives You" composed by Kim Hyo-geun, the musical Cats theme song "Memory," the opera Tosca aria "E lucevan le stelle," and the traditional folk song "Kkwaejina Chingchingnane."

Kim Myung-gon served as the 8th Minister of Culture and Tourism (now Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) and director of the National Theater of Korea. He is currently the chairman of the Mapo Cultural Foundation. Kim Myung-gon said, "We prepared this performance to comfort and heal the minds and bodies of medical staff, firefighters, and residents of Mapo-gu exhausted by COVID-19," adding, "I hope this performance will be a warm gift of consolation to audiences going through difficult times."

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