New Busan Landmarks Named: 'Busan Opera House' and 'Busan Concert Hall'!

September 11-22 Busan Opera House, Busan International Art Center Venue Naming Preference Survey

Venue Name Reflection, Venue Symbol (CI)·Brand Slogan (BI)·Applied Design to be Finalized by December

Busan City has finalized the names of the Busan Opera House and the Busan International Art Center performance hall, which will become new landmarks of Busan, as ‘Busan Opera House’ and ‘Busan Concert Hall,’ respectively.

In March, Busan City commissioned a branding development project to prepare for the full-scale opening of the two large professional performance halls. The project established a brand development strategy and conducted research on domestic and international performance hall cases and current status.

Additionally, an advisory committee composed of design and publicity experts was formed, holding meetings in March and June. A brand awareness survey was also conducted in May. Separately, meetings with cultural institutions in the Busan area, including the Busan Federation of Arts and Culture, were held in June to gather opinions from local cultural figures regarding the names of the performance halls.

Through this diverse opinion-gathering process, three candidate names for each performance hall were selected, and an online and offline survey was conducted nationwide for 12 days from September 11 to 22.

As a result, among approximately 4,300 survey participants, the majority preferred names that intuitively represent the regional name and the purpose of the performance halls.

For the Busan Opera House, ‘Busan Opera House,’ which clearly conveys the regional name and the purpose of the performance hall, received 64% (2,730 votes), ‘Dongbaek Opera House,’ metaphorically referring to the camellia flower, Busan’s city flower, received 19% (831 votes), and ‘Busan Pearl Opera House,’ representing the image of a pearl-bearing shell, the architectural concept of the opera house currently under construction, received 17% (704 votes).

Perspective view of Busan Opera House.

For the Busan International Art Center, ‘Busan Concert Hall,’ which clearly indicates the regional name and the purpose of the performance hall, received 56% (2,394 votes), ‘Park Concert Hall,’ highlighting the location characteristics of Busan Citizens Park and using ‘Popcorn’ as a nickname to emphasize a young and lively K-classical image, received 24% (1,029 votes), and ‘B-Vibratorium,’ combining the musical term ‘Vibrato,’ meaning sound vibration and beautiful resonance, with ‘B’ symbolizing Busan and ‘Arium’ meaning place, received 20% (870 votes).

Reflecting the results of this survey, the city has finalized the names of the new performance halls as ‘Busan Opera House’ and ‘Busan Concert Hall.’

Based on this, by December, the city plans to derive designs for the performance halls’ symbols (CI) and brand slogans (BI), and develop applied designs such as logos, fonts, and characters, as well as promotional products to be used for publicity and marketing.

Kim Ki-hwan, Director of the Culture and Sports Bureau of Busan City, stated, “Along with the completion of world-class classical music performance halls that make Busan a cultural tourism city everyone wants to visit, we will also prepare systematic and substantial operation plans for the performance halls. We will ensure that all Busan citizens can participate in this process.”

The Busan Concert Hall, being constructed in Busan Citizens Park, is currently 56% complete and is scheduled for completion in 2024 and opening in 2025. The Busan Opera House is currently 40% complete and is being built with the goal of completion and opening in 2026.

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