| Guests read the program in their seats before the start of the Korea Times' Spring Music Festival at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Performances by jazz singer Woong San and the Mostly Philharmonic Orchestra highlighted the Korea Times' Spring Music Festival held Tuesday night at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.
More than 2,000 people attended the annual concert, a group that included the newspapers' readers and also government officials, diplomats, business leaders and cultural figures.
The orchestra, led by conductor Park Sang-hyun, opened the concert with Franz von Suppe's ''Light Cavalry Overture'' and Saint-Saens' ''Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, OP 28'' with violinist Lee Moon-kyung.
Soprano Kim Soo-yeon was then introduced and sang Johan Strauss' ''Voice of Spring Waltz'' and Lim Geung-soo's ''Spring Approaches from Across the River.''
Tenor Ryu Jung-phil got thunderous applause for his performing of the traditional Korean song ''Song of Birds'' and ''Spring Rain,'' a folk rock song written by guitarist Shin Joong-hyun. Ryu and Kim wrapped up their performances by singing Armando Manzanero's ''Somos Novios'' in a duet.
Park Moo-jong, president-publisher of The Korea Times, was called up to the stage and light-heartily sang ''O Sole Mio'' to close the first half of the concert on a humorous note.
Tenor Lee Hyo-sang opened the second-half of the concert with ''Che Gelida Manina" from Puccini's "La Boheme," and "Yours Is My Heart Alone," an aria written by German composer Franz Lehar.
Kolleen Park, the popular composer, singer and television personality, then took to the stage and sang "Memory" from the musical "Cats" and ''Man of Lamancha'' from the musical of the same name.
The star of the performance was Woong San, whose husky voice and brooding delivery was perfect for Astor Piazzolla's "Yo Soy Maria'' and the Gipsy Kings songs "Volare" and "Whatever Lola Wants."
Several diplomats were in attendance including Turkish Ambassador to Korea Hakan Okcal, Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Masoumifar, Tunisian Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nafti and Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash. This year's spring concert was sponsored by the Industrial Bank of Korea, KB Financial Group, KT&G and S-Oil.