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| Bass Youn Kwang-chul / Korea Times file |
By Kim Rahn
World-class bass Youn Kwang-chul was invited to sing the Korean national anthem during President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration ceremony in Seoul, Tuesday, as a symbol of overcoming prejudice and discrimination, according to the presidential transition committee.
Youn, together with the Rainbow Choir, consisting of children of multicultural backgrounds, sang the national anthem at the ceremony in front of the National Assembly's main building.
The committee said Youn, 57, is a symbolic figure who has broken the prejudice against graduates who are not from Seoul-based prestigious universities and made a breakthrough in the global music scene.
He was far from a systematically educated, well-prepared young music talent: Born to a farming family, he graduated from a technical high school and studied alone to enter the music education department at Cheongju University.
Youn moved to Europe to study vocal music and attended Berlin University of the Arts from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, he won the Placido Domingo Operalia, a world opera competition, and has since been continuing his music career mostly in Europe, taking major bass vocal roles in productions at world-renowned orchestras and opera theaters.
In 2018, he was named a "Kammersanger," a title given to distinguished opera and classical music singers in Germany and Austria, by the Berlin State Opera. It was rare for an Asian person to receive the honor and he was the second Korean to do so at the time.
He was appointed as a professor at Seoul National University in 2010, which was also very rare for a graduate of a provincial university. However, he resigned in 2017 to continue his singing career.
Meanwhile, soprano Sumi Jo and baritone Choi Hyun-soo sang the national anthem at former President Park Geun-hye's inauguration ceremony in 2012, while in the 2008 ceremony for former President Lee Myung-bak, children who greeted the presidential couple at the beginning of the ceremony sang the anthem.
The inauguration for Yoon's predecessor Moon Jae-in was held in a much simpler format than usual as it was held the next day after the snap election following Park's impeachment, thus having no time to prepare a specific singer to sing the national anthem at the inauguration ceremony.
