Music hall to screen the Met’s 2013 season

A music hall in Seoul is screening the 2013 season of the Metropolitan Opera, bringing the popular, award-winning Live in HD series to local opera lovers.

Directed by Bartlett Sher and starring Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani, Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” will be screened on Jan. 20 and Jan. 27. For the 2013 season, the Met is presenting a total of seven new productions and five revivals, and “Met Opera @ Bear Hall” will hold three screenings of each production every month.

This year will see many faces familiar to local opera fans. Korean bass Youn Kwang-chul will star in Berlioz’s vast epic, “Les Troyens,” singing the role of Narbal, along with Susan Graham who plays Dido, the lovesick queen of Carthage. Kathleen Kim, a Korean-American soprano who has been heralded by opera fans as a “tiny dynamo,” will take on the role of Oscar in Verdi’s vivid drama of jealousy, “Un Ballo in Maschera.”

To help opera novices better appreciate the music, Bear Hall will have opera commentators at the screenings to discuss the pieces. Chang Il-bum, a classical music critic and professor at Anyang University; Yoo Jung-woo, an opera specialist; Yoo Hyung-jong, a classical music and dance columnist; and Hwang Ji-won, president of La Fabbrica della Cultura and a classical music critic, will introduce each opera with information on the cast, background of the opera and plot summary for each act.

Bear Hall also said it is offering brunch menus at Win Caf. The brunch and opera together cost 50,000 won. The opera tickets alone cost 30,000 won.

For more information, call (02) 1899-2771 or visit www.bear-hall.co.kr.

By Bae Soo-min, Intern reporter
(soomin623@heraldcorp.com)