May 2023

Global Korea

New York, USA

KCC in NY Screens Documentary
on Video Art Pioneer Paik

The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in New York on April 11 held a screening of “Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV,” a documentary about the video art pioneer, at the auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, the showing attracted about 200 people including members from cultural and arts organizations in New York, political, diplomatic and Korean American groups and Korean War veterans. Entered in the documentary competition of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film is on the life of the Korean American artist.

This is also the first documentary to feature Paik’s videos.
The work contains interviews with ccomposerJohn Cage, painter Joseph Beuys, cellist Charlotte Moorman, artists Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol, poet Allen Ginsberg and dancer Merce Cunningham, all of whom greatly inspired and or were inspired by Paik.

The executive producer is Korean American actor Steven Yeun.

KCC in New York Director Kim Cheonsoo said, “Using the insight of global citizen Nam June Paik as a mirror, we hope to reflect on the history of the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance and broaden the horizons of the cultural alliance through K-Culture.”

London, UK

KCC in London to Host Concert to
Mark 140th Year of Bilateral Ties

The Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in London hosted “KCC House Concert: The Musical in Concert” at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly, on April 21 at 7 p.m. to mark 140 years of Korea-U.K. ties and the KCC’s 15th anniversary.

Soprano Christine Suhyun Kim from the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Music was joined on stage by a musical director, tenor and players of the violin, viola, cello, and double bass all from the U.K.

They performed famous numbers like those from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of The Opera,” Claude-Michel Schonberg’s “Les Miserables” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” along with beautiful melodies from gagok (Korean vocal music) including “First Love” by composer Kim Hyo-gun and “Arariyo” by musical director and composer Lee Ji-soo.

The concert series, launched in 2016, offers opportunities for budding Korean musicians in the U.K. to debut on the world stage. This monthly program offers free admission to about 200 people to raise Korea’s status and global awareness of the nation by presenting high-quality Korean classical music to the British public.

Kim is a soprano who has appeared in works produced by teams of London’s West End, one of the world’s two most prominent musical venues alongside Broadway in New York. She was pursuing a master’s in musical theater at the Royal Academy of Music.

She made a successful global debut as Sooni in the original Korean opera “Bom, Bom,” which played in five European cities, to mark the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Musical director and composer Ian Sutherland had worked on productions like “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Rabbie.” He was a music lecturer and resident musical director at the MGA Academy of Performing Arts in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Tenor Petur Svavarsson had majored in piano and voice performance at Iceland University of the Arts. In 2020, he won the Audience Prize at the 2020 singing competition Vox Domini in Iceland.

The Whitman Ensemble, a London-based group of string players founded by students from the Royal Academy of Music, provided the music. It finished as runner-up at the academy’s Harold Craxton Chamber Competition in 2021 and last year.

“Future culture is created through new challenges,” KCC Director Sun Seunghye said. “To mark the 140th anniversary of Korea-U.K. relations and the 15th anniversary of the KCC’s opening, we planned the house concert to feature K-Musicals performed by up-and-coming musicians in the U.K., the birthplace of musicals.”