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| Singers perform during the 'Opera Spreading Beauty to the World' concert at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul, Wednesday. The SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation for Culture and the Arts held its fifth concert in memory of Lee Woon-hyung, the late SeAH Group chairman who was a classical opera enthusiast. / Courtesy of SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
The SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation for Culture and the Arts held its fifth concert Wednesday to commemorate Lee Woon-hyung, the late SeAH Group chairman and a famed supporter of classical opera.
The concert titled "Opera Spreading Beauty to the World" was held at 8 p.m. at the Seoul Arts Center. The two-hour performance, directed by Chung Chi-yong, featured a dozen opera singers and musicians as well as the Korea Symphony Orchestra.
Among others, world-renowned opera singers such as soprano Rachele Gilmore and baritone Vladimir Stoyanov performed Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto." Sarah Meyers of the Metropolitan Opera directed the stage.
Seasoned singers, including tenors Chung Ho-yoon, Shin Hyun-sik, bass Kim Dae-young and mezzo-soprano Kim Jung-mi, sang together with the Grande Opera Chorus and young opera prodigies supported by the foundation.
"This concert was created with the aim of bringing together classical music and opera lovers and making such events more accessible to the public," Park Eui-sook, Lee's widow and director of The SeAH Woon-Hyug Lee Foundation, said.
"The event offers more opportunities for opera singers and other musicians to perform and encourages the public to attend such events more often."
The foundation said it would continue to organize the concerts in the coming years to realize the late chairman's wishes to foster appreciation of classical music.
Founded in August 2013, the foundation's main mission is to commemorate and continue Lee's passion and patronage of the arts.
It provides scholarships and other academic support to students from low-income families and sponsors classical music concerts.
Lee, widely known for his love of art and generous sponsorship, served as the first chairman of the National Opera of Korea from 2000 to 2007.
He also offered money to help install the Korea exhibit at the University of Michigan, as well as providing scholarships to music departments at Seoul National University and Korea National University of Arts.
Lee died of heart failure in March 2013 during an overseas business trip. He was on his way to Chile.
Born in 1947 as the younger son of SeAH founder Lee Jong-duk, Lee joined the group in 1974 and led the steelmaker from 1980.
SeAH Holdings, the group's holding company, posted 5.17 trillion won ($4.57 billion) in sales and a 154 billion won operating profit last year.
