[Weekender] Orchestras for all

When the different notes and timbres of as many as 100 instruments combine into a glorious harmony, it is not only those in the audience who feel moved. The musicians and the conductor too feel overwhelmed with the sense of belonging and pride, as well as the spiritual richness of the classical music.

This is what the people interviewed by The Korea Herald all said when asked what was it about playing in orchestras that they loved so much.

“I have been running my own business. Looking back at all the ups and downs that I have gone through, I would say that I couldn’t have made it if I didn’t have an orchestra to play in,” said Bong Won-il, who leads an amateur ensemble in Seoul.

“I really want to share with more people my feelings, playing in an orchestra.”

Bong and leaders of 50 amateur orchestras jointly pulled off a weeklong civic orchestra festival ― the first of its kind in Korea ― at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. A total of 2,200 amateur musicians ― from children to senior citizens ― participated in the festival, supported by the arts center.

Just a little over half a century after Western classical music and its highest expression ― orchestras ― started appearing in Korea, the country is booming with ensembles, both amateur and professional.

In a country known for cutthroat competition, a high suicide rate and social conflicts and divisions, orchestras are hailed as not only a musical tool, but also as a model way of bringing about unity in diversity and providing spiritual comfort to stressed-out Koreans.

“An orchestra is a small society where people of diverse ideas and backgrounds work towards a common goal” said Hong Sun-hwi, a former music teacher involved in a community orchestra. “It requires dedication, and hard work, but the reward is clearly there too when we perform on stage,” she said.

Orchestras of Dream, a Korean adaption of the highly successful Venezuelan youth orchestra initiative El Sistema, started in 2010 as a nationwide project. The privately run Heart to Heart Orchestra, and others, aim to provide orchestral training to the less privileged.

At the professional level, Korean orchestras are making big strides too.

In August, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra made its much-lauded debut at the prestigious BBC Proms, while two other Korean ensembles went on an overseas tour.

Concerts of the Seoul Philharmonic, which is led by Korea’s beloved conductor Chung Myung-whun, are often sold out.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)