The National Gugak Orchestra and a Western symphony orchestra will collaborate to create a performance that transcends genres. The National Theater of Korea’s resident company, the National Gugak Orchestra, announced on the 27th that they will present “Orchestral Series IV: Switch” on June 21st at the National Theater’s Haeoreum Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul.
“Switch” involves two orchestras that represent gugak (Korean traditional music) and Western orchestral music, each swapping and performing each other’s repertoire. The first part will feature the KBS Symphony Orchestra, while the second part will showcase the National Gugak Orchestra, allowing the audience to compare and appreciate the different sounds and playing styles.
The conductor for this event, Jung Chi-yong, is a professor of conducting at the Korea National University of Arts and has extensive experience working with both types of orchestras.
In the first part, the KBS Symphony Orchestra will perform gugak orchestral repertoire that has been arranged for Western instruments. They will start with “Dance of the Shaman,” an orchestral piece that musically captures the last three minutes of a shaman’s dance in a ritual. Next, they will play a 25-string gayageum concerto titled “Young Flower,” followed by “Moo Nee,” a piece based on the folk song “Han O Baek Nyeon.”
The second part will see the National Gugak Orchestra perform. They will start with “Moo Nee,” reverting it to its original gugak orchestral form, highlighting the tonal and atmospheric differences from the Western arrangement. This will be followed by a cello concerto titled “Smile,” an impressive piece featuring the cello’s melody blending with the gugak orchestra. The finale will be “Shin Nae Rim,” a renowned work by composer Park Bum-hoon based on Gyeonggi shamanic music.
A National Theater representative stated that “Switch” is an opportunity to expand audience’s musical imagination and discover the diverse possibilities of gugak orchestral music through cross-genre exchange with a Western orchestra. They added that attendees will experience the new allure of gugak orchestral repertoire.