K A C F

Scenes from the rehearsal

Serenity, Repose & Inspiration

Performers

Yu-Ra Lee is a classically trained soprano. After graduating from Ehwa Women’s University in Korea, she moved on to study at the Conservatorio di Musica 'Nino Rota' di Monopoli and Scuola di Musica di Savona in Italy where she obtained the degree in vocal performance. She also holds a graduate degree in the Hallryu Culture and Arts CEO from Jung Ang University. She has collaborated with various orchestras around the world, and played leading roles in operas such as Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Bastien Bastienne, and L'Elisir d’Amore. She also directed and performed leading roles in musicals such as the Phantom of the Opera (Korean premiere), Jesus Christ Superstar, Salome. More recently, her role as the soprano Sharon in the Korean premiere of the play Master Class against the renowned actress Seok Hwa Yoon (playing as Maria Callas) was highly acclaimed.

Ohkyeong Kwon is a classically trained baritone based in Boston. He graduated summa cum laude in music performance from Sejong University in Korea and made his debut through the ChosunIlbo Debut Concert at Sejong Cultural Center in Korea. He moved to the US and continued his training at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston where he recently obtained the Master’s degree in Vocal Performance. He has played leading roles in several operas such as The Barber of Seville (Figaro), L’Elisir d’Amore (Belcore), The Merry Widow (Danilo) and Amelia goes to the Ball (Husband).

Clera Ryu is a Doctoral candidate in Collaborative Piano at Boston University studying with Shiela Kibbe. Previously, she earned Professional Artist Certificate at the North Carolina School of the Arts focusing on instrumental chamber music. She is a recital winner of the Georgia All State Competitions, as well as outstanding performer prizes from the GA Music Teachers Association, and has appeared as a soloist in Athens, GA under conductor Mark Cedel. Clera is an active collaborator in both vocal and instrumental repertoire in New England region, her most recent performance took place in Connecticut, where she gave a recital in all German program of arias and lied. She also coaches opera scenes, working closely with musicians from Baroque to contemporary American repertoire. Besides working as a freelance pianist in various colleges in the area, she is an accompanist at the Boston Children’s Chorus and the Wellesley College Choir. This summer, she joined the faculty in the Young Artist Vocal Program at the BU Tanglewood Institute and spent the last summer in France as a vocal coach at the Franco American Vocal Academy.

SoYoung Kwon has appeared in recitals, concerts, festivals and master classes throughout the United States, Germany, France, Netherlands, China, and Korea. She has won numerous competitions and awards, including prestigious top prizes from the Korea Daily Competition and Eumyeon Competition in Korea, American Protege International Competition and was chosen as the 2014 Ujung Rising Star by Ujung Art Center. SoYoung has been a concertmaster of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, the Yale Philharmonia, Boston University Symphony/Chamber Orchestra and the Boston Chamber Symphony, as well as a principal first violin of Gunsan Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, she has played with Soliall Philharmonic Orchestra, New Music New Haven, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Macau Orchestra, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and KBS Symphony Orchestra. She performs regularly with the Contemporary Music Ensemble Éclat, Haffner Sinfonietta, and is a founding member of the Absolute Trio. She holds Bachelor’s degree at Oberlin Conservatory with full scholarship, Master’s degree and Artist Diploma with full merit scholarship from Yale University School of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University, and is an Adjunct Professor at Stonehill College.

Ji Eun Kim graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and is currently a Master candidate at the New England Conservatory studying cello performance with professor Yeesun Kim. She has participated and performed in various festivals around the world including the Seoul National Orchestra festival, Killington Music festival, Siena Music festival, Zephyr International Chamber music festival, and the International festival of musicAlp.

Heather Lee is the founder/director of the Broadway to Boston (B2B) Theater Company. She directed Musical Ladies: Broadway in Seoul, Musical Ladies: short ver., Blessed and Joyful Night and Broadway to Hollywood part 1 with B2B. She also performed in Musical Ladies as Heather Kim (B2B, MA), The Crossroad Village as Velma of Chicago (KACF, MA), The King and I as Mrs. Anna (B2B, MA), West Side Story as Rosalia (B2B, MA), Chicago as Matron “Mama” Morton & Velma Kelly (B2B, MA), Ruth: The Musical as Naomi (KCB), K-Pop Night (KCB) and participated in Hair as the vocal coach (The Longwood Players, MA), as well as in Cinderella, Snow White: The Musical, and Pippin as the music director. She took on various roles in other concerts: Elergy for the Fallen, Lights beyond the Abyss as a stage manager (KACF, MA), The Yodler as the director (the Alpin Rose Yodel Club, Korea), Harvard International Night, Harvard Commencement Concert, Harvard annual Christmas Concert, Handel Society Annual Concerts, Haydn Society Annual Concerts, Annual Summer Concert Series of the Alpin Rose as a member of performers. She has a ScD in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. This is her 3rd year in collaboration with KACF and she is extremely excited to find out how this concert would turn out to be.

About the Program

About the Concert 휴(休) [hju:] Series
Yu-Ra Lee, Music Director

The concert 휴(休) [hju:], one of the most popular Christmas concert series in South Korea, had its premier opening back in 2005. The vision of the concert 휴(休) is to provide enjoyment and relaxation to both performers and audience alike. In a 휴(休) [hju:] concert, classically trained opera singers perform various music genres beyond the classics — such as Broadway musical numbers, pop songs, and other crossover music — in a casual setting. The format is designed to create a unique opportunity for audience to enjoy a great getaway from their hectic lives through music. And this Boston performance will be no exception.

As its artistic director, I have put tremendous effort to build the series for the last 11 years. This Boston edition of the concert 휴(休) is a new challenge for me, and I am happy to collaborate with Heather Lee, the director of the Broadway to Boston (B2B) Theater company, adding new flavors, fit for marking 10th in the series. We hope to help both performers and the audience alike deepen their appreciation of different cultures — from exuberance and dynamism of the Western culture to serenity and resilience of the Korean cultural tradition.

“콘서트 휴(休)“는 2005년 시작된 한국의 장수 연말 콘서트로 “세상에서 가장 아름다운 휴식은 음악” 임을 알리는데 앞장서오고 있습니다. 삶을 연주하는 콘서트로 기억되는 음악회로 쉼없이 달리는 고단한 삶속의 나와 그 사람에게 휴식이 될 수 있는 소극장 음악회를 모토로 하고 있지요. 오페라에서 주로 볼 수 있었던 정통 성악가들의 쉼을 향한 외도무대이기도 한 콘서트 휴(休)를 통하여 클라식 싱어들이 드레스와 턱시도 대신 편안한 복장으로 무대에 올라 다양한 장르의 음악을 소화하고 또 다른 뮤직 장르의 음악인들과 허물없이 협연하는 무대를 보는 것만으로도 색다르고 감각있는 최고의 휴식을 제공해 드리고자 합니다.

콘서트 휴(休)는 여러 음악/공연 방면에서 활동을 해 오는 가운데 지난 10여년간 직접 기획하고 연출하며 가꾸어 온 음악회입니다. 한국을 벗어나 보스톤 나들이를 시도한 이번 콘서트 휴(休)는 클라식 음악 연주자들의 음악세계에 뮤지컬의 감각을 입힌 콜레보레이션을 통하여 동양의 정적인 쉼(休)에 서양의 자유롭고 동적인 휴가의 개념을 접목한 특별한 휴식의 장이 될 것입니다.

무대와 객석이 하나되어 체온을 느끼는 마음 따뜻한 휴식을 만들고 싶은 이번 음악회는 무대 위 연주자에게는 휴식처럼 달콤하고 편안한 시간, 무대 아래 관객에게는 휴식을 위한 잔잔한 배경 음악이 되는 시간, 그리고 공연장을 떠나 다시 치열한 삶의 현장으로 복귀하는 우리 모두에게 에너지를 듬뿍 담아낼 특별한 휴식이 되기를 기대합니다.

Concert 휴(休) [hju:] in Boston
Heather Lee, Executive Director

We live everyday facing daily challenges of how to bring this tired and nervous day to a close. For this particular combination of tiredness and nervous energy, we seek a simple workable solution; Music. When our self-repaired mechanism of stress is completely disabled, we do not even have energy to seek an exit. In that moment, an escape from this hectic day catches our significant attention. As Aristotle said - Relaxation is not an end; for it is taken for the sake of activity, we all understand and experience that well rested body and mind would bring a refreshed and revitalized vibe to our lives to commence a new cycle of daily challenges again. Back in April, KACF annual series of concerts conveyed “Elegy for the Fallen – Light beyond Abyss” to embrace the universal theme of grief, solace, and resilience and to share a moment of reflection through Music. This fall series of KACF presentation may be an extent of the reflection of the last spring event. If that event covered the stage of grief and recovery, the concert 휴(休) is in charge of the rest of the courses, celebration in living and beyond. To deliver the joy and relief of living, we will not place a limit to any aspect of music. Anything can happen tonight. All you need is your musical enthusiasm for your own benefit—enjoyment, happiness, healing, relaxation and many more.

Tonight, the concert 휴(休) in Boston will represent a unique combination of classic and other music, generating a perfect classical crossover music, in which classical musicians perform international eclectic music including French and K-pop music. “Je te veux” will take you to a street performer on a quiet street in Paris while “the Flower day” will invite you to a scene from 500 years ago in South Korea where a girl is picking flowers in the meadow while humming its melody. Music will deliver your relaxation and happiness by amplifying your imagination.
In addition, the concert 휴(休) in Boston will successfully display great engagements of Korean and Western music culture and beyond. Native Korean musicians perform Western Music—such as Gershwin’s musical number and Verdi’s Opera Aria—with western musical instruments. Living in 21st century, this is not a surprise; instead, this is an excellent opportunity for you to take advantages of observing these superb Korean professional musicians conjoin distinctive Korean sense and culture into these western music pieces and share their diverse but still fascinating interpretation of the music with audience. Furthermore, this unique collaboration between classical voices and theatrical presentation will add more exclusive flavors on top of all your imagination. All these aspects also perfectly fit in the KACF’s theme of juxtaposing old and new as well as Eastern and Western cultures in inspirational ways.

Finally, I hope that your twirling stressful mind becomes peaceful and your nervous body releases all tension after all because I believe that tonight’s music will personally deliver a remarkable healing remedy to each of us. I also hope that this unique opportunity may open and widen your eyes and ears to understand diverse styles of music with distinctive levels because no limitation and segregation should exist in performing and rejoicing music.

At last, I really appreciate every single performer and staff member, especially Yu-Ra Lee who tremendously cooperated in our collaboration, to make this event unique and successful. And of course special thanks go to the audience who is with us tonight. Performers will have fun on stage while audience will find their own way of being revitalized. In the end, we will all regain the strength to battle and continue on the journey of our life. So sit back and enjoy the show.