The Gechoen Classic Festival, hosted by the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong Koo Foundation and organized by the Korea National University of Arts, successfully concluded in Gechoen Village, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the festival, and it drew a crowd of over 17,000 spectators who came to see performances by three renowned Korean pianists – Baek Gun-woo, Lee Jin-sang, and Jo Sung-jin.
The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong Koo Foundation announced on the 3rd that the Gechoen Classic Festival, held from the 31st of last month to the 2nd of this month for 3 days, had been successfully completed.
On the first day of the festival, pianist Baek Gun-woo met with the audience with a Mozart program. On the second day, alumni of the Korea National University of Arts gathered on stage. Pianist Lee Jin-sang (a professor at the Korea National University of Arts) and conductor Jung Chi-yong performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the KNUA Symphony Orchestra composed of KNUA students.
At the finale of the festival, which attracted the largest audience, pianist Jo Sung-jin and conductor Kim Seon-wook stood on the same stage. With Shostakovich’s wit and humor, Jo Sung-jin’s piano performance and a musical dialogue with the trumpet captivated the audience, while Kim Seon-wook’s conducting and the precise and energetic accompaniment of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra created a perfect harmony.
During this event, various programs such as an outdoor art wall exhibition depicting the history of the past 10 years of the event, a classical music café where you could hear stories from composers, and a silk screen experience conveying an environmental message, captured the attention of the audience. Also, the Gechoen Starlight Orchestra, composed of students from Gechoen Elementary School, Gechoen Middle School, and alumni, showcased their pure passion on stage and received a warm response from the audience.
The 10th-anniversary Gechoen Classic Festival reaffirmed its status as a representative outdoor classical music festival in Korea. The Gechoen Classic Festival has been expanding its external recognition, ranking first in the national festival trend index in April-May and being selected as one of the ‘Local 100 for Regional Cultural Award Winners in the second half of 2023’ designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, receiving love from the public.