In a sign of recovery, SAC New Year's Eve Concert returns

The Seoul Arts Center’s New Year’s Eve concert is scheduled to return Dec. 31, the first time that the concert that marks the end of the year for many classical music lovers will be back on the stage since the last three years prior.

Conductor Hong Seok-won, the artistic director of the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra, will lead the Korean National Symphony Orchestra for the SAC’s year-end concert, an annual tradition that started in 1994.

Joining onstage are pianist Shin Chang-yong, soprano Hwang Su-mi and bass Park Jong-min.

Hwang is the first prize winner of the 2014 Queen Elisabeth Competition, while Park won the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition.

The concert will open with the dance piece “Bacchanale” from Saint-Saens’ opera “Samson and Delilah.” Pianist Shin will join the KNSO in the performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43.

Bass Park will join the orchestra in performing “Snow” by Kim Hyo-gun and the aria “Calumny is a Little Breeze” from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”

Hwang will perform “Song to the Moon” from Dvorak’s “Rusalka” and an aria from Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale.”

The two vocalists will whisper love in the night singing “Lips are Sealed“ from Lehar’s operetta “The Merry Widow.”

The finale will be Ravel’s "Bolero" -- a song that gradually builds up various instruments on top of the rhythm of the snare drum with the entire orchestra finishing the piece.

After the concert, a countdown to welcome 2023 will be held at the outdoor plaza with fireworks.

Ticket prices range from 30,000 won to 100,000 won and reservations are available on the SAC’s website and Interpark.

The concert and ensuing countdown will also be streamed live on SAC’s official YouTube channel.