Listen to the Musical 'Opera-ui Yujeong' with the Pipe Organ at Lotte Concert Hall

by Park Pyunghee

Published 22 Jan.2025 13:17(KST)

Updated 22 Jan.2025 13:57(KST)

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First 'Organ Odyssey' of the Year to Be Held on February 26

The first performance of this year's 'Organ Odyssey,' one of the representative concerts at Lotte Concert Hall, will be held on February 26th at 11:30 AM.

The Lotte Cultural Foundation, which operates Lotte Concert Hall, announced on the 22nd that the title of this Organ Odyssey performance is 'Phantom Organ,' and the first piece will be an organ solo excerpted from the famous theme song of the musical 'The Phantom of the Opera.'

Organist Park Junho [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

The pipe organ is called the 'king of instruments' due to its unique overwhelming sound and diverse tones that surpass all melodies of an orchestra. When the fear, curiosity, gloom, and intensity surrounding the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera are expressed through explosive sound, the pipe organ is the instrument that can convey that intense atmosphere with its overwhelming tone.

The pipe organ at Lotte Concert Hall is an instrument made by the Austrian company Rieger, equipped with 4 manuals, 68 stops, and over 5,000 pipes, capable of producing various sounds through combinations of multiple manuals and stops.

At this performance, organist Park Junho will play pieces fitting the title 'Phantom Organ,' including 'Phantom' from Bjørn’s 24 Fantasies, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude 'The Bells of Moscow,' and more. Baritone Ahn Gap-sung will perform Schubert’s 'Erlk?nig,' and numbers from the musicals 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' such as 'Out There,' 'The Age of the Cathedral' from 'Notre-Dame de Paris,' and 'This Is the Moment' from 'Jekyll & Hyde,' all accompanied by the majestic pipe organ melodies.

Pianist Kim Kyung-min [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

Pianist Kim Kyung-min will also return as the concert guide in 2025, providing witty commentary while moving between the exterior and interior of the organ.

Park Junho is the first Korean to win the Nuremberg International Competition. Since 2019, he has continuously appeared on the Lotte Concert Hall 'Organ Odyssey' stage, thoroughly conveying the charm of the Lotte Concert Hall 'Rieger' organ.