Daejeon Sirip Yeonjeong Gugakwon Elevates Its Status This Year with Performances Blending Artistry and Popular Appeal

Securing 190 Million Won in National Funding...
Elevating Its Status as a Complex Art Center for Children and Entire Families

Photo provided by Daejeon Municipal Yeonjeong Gugakwon

Daejeon Sirip Yeonjeong Gugakwon secured 190 million won in national funding as four of its performances were selected this year in open-call projects run by the Korea Arts Management Service and the Korea Cultural and Arts Centers Association.

Through this, the venue will newly produce high-quality children's performances that combine completeness, artistic value, and popularity, as well as a musical based on a story unique to Daejeon, thereby enhancing its status as a complex art center visited by children and entire families together.

The selected performances are the family opera "The Brother and Sister Who Almost Became the Sun and the Moon," the convergence ballet theater piece "Sleeping Beauty," and the fairy-tale concert "The Growing Turtle" under the Korea Arts Management Service's "Regional Distribution Support Project for Performing Arts," and the musical "Kumdori: The Vanished Sea Kingdom" under the Korea Cultural and Arts Centers Association's "Specialized Support Project for Cultural and Arts Centers."

To broaden the base of Gugak and develop new audiences, the family opera "The Brother and Sister Who Almost Became the Sun and the Moon," which will open the newly prepared children's series this year, will be staged on May 2 at the Grand Madang.

This work combines German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel" with the Korean folktale "The Brother and Sister Who Almost Became the Sun and the Moon," preserving the musical charm of a traditional opera while adding imagination and fun to the storyline of the folktale.

Expectations are high that, through the ensemble members' delicate acting and humorous direction, it will showcase new possibilities for a family opera that any audience member can enjoy.

The convergence ballet theater piece "Sleeping Beauty," which will be staged on October 17 at the Grand Madang, is a bestseller that has gained great popularity as the most frequently selected work in the Korea Cultural and Arts Centers Association's "Bangbanggokgok Cultural Empathy Project."

Against the backdrop of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's beautiful melodies, the familiar fairy-tale story is expressed through the dancers' elegant and dignified choreography, while KBS voice actor Song Yeonhee, well known as Shinnosuke's mother in "Crayon Shin-chan," provides the narration, presenting the unique appeal of a different kind of ballet theater.

The third work, the fairy-tale concert "The Growing Turtle" by the creative Gugak group "Geurim," will be performed on December 12 at the Grand Madang. The traditional intangible cultural heritage pansori "Sugungga" is reinterpreted in a modern way, and around the story of "Sugungga," paintings, music, and video unfold three-dimensionally to create a fairy-tale concert like a watercolor painting.

The final work, the musical "Kumdori: The Vanished Sea Kingdom," will be staged on the Grand Madang on October 9 and 10.

This piece utilizes Daejeon City mascot "Kumdori" as performance content and is a family musical that delivers an environmental protection message in a time-slip adventure format in which the characters set out to uncover the secrets of an undersea kingdom, blending Gugak with contemporary music. Together with Asin Art Company, the Gugakwon will develop it into a representative cultural content of Daejeon and an established repertory work of the Gugakwon.

Director Oh Byungjun said, "Through our selection in this open-call project, this will be an opportunity for the Gugakwon to leap forward as an art center where children and entire families can experience happiness and joy, rather than remaining a venue that only presents Gugak performances on stage."

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