[K-Festival Directors] A ’’Made in Uijeongbu’’ Performance on the Global Scene
[People] Seungchan HONG _ Artistic Director of Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival
The Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival has popularized music theater which had previously been a largely unknown genre. This year marks the festival’’s 12th anniversary. The festival was first held in May 2002, celebrating the first anniversary of the Uijeongbu Arts Center. The event was hosted by the Uijeongbu Arts Center and sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Gyeonggi Province and Uijeongbu City. It is the only Korean festival encompassing all kinds of musical theater performances in one place and it has become Korea’’s representative performing arts festival by each year introducing more high-level indoor, outdoor and street performances from all over the world.
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| Seungchan HONG |
A Festival of Communication and Sharing
"Above all, I believe that it is necessary to find out what makes a festival stand out. A festival should appeal to ordinary people and to make this possible, musical theater can be adjusted a little bit to cater to their needs. It is important for people to watch great performances but I’’m convinced that our priority should be to enable the audience to become the ’’main characters’’ of the festival.
Mr. Seungchan HONG, the artistic director of Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival who has successfully led the event for the past two years, said, "I have made efforts to make this a stand-out festival, a festival of communication and sharing and a festival adjusted to the needs of locals." He also added, "While we have concentrated on introducing high-quality overseas works for the past decade, it is time to prepare ourselves to introduce Korean works onto the global scene."
Since he was appointed as the leader of the festival in February 2011, he has attempted to "transform the festival into a new one." Indeed, the 11th Festival, which was held for 15 days from May 5 under the theme of the "Ssing-Sing Music Town and Fun-Fun Music Festival," generated a response that was more enthusiastic than ever before. That was because the festival tried something new. For example, Tiger JK and Tasha (a married couple) served as the promotional ambassadors of the festival and four performances were internally produced. In addition, the Festival also decided to designate a country as guests of honor each year. Consequently, the number of visitors doubled compared to the previous year.
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Tiger JK and Tasha, a Hip-hop Couple’’s Success at the Festival
Such a popular music festival doesn’’t seem to go hand in hand with Mr. HONG, a music theorist and a music critic who studied classical music. However, his relationship with the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival started at the very beginning. When the Uijeongbu Arts Center was opened in 2001, he came to serve as an advisor and suggested hosting a regular musical theater festival. He remembered that time and said, "I thought that if there was a festival which would present music theater in a broader and more accessible sense, it would be possible to encompass a number of experimental art genres."
Organizing the festival for a second time last year, Mr. HONG took a great risk. Despite others’’ opposition, he appointed the hip-hop musicians Tiger JK and Tasha as the promotional ambassadors of the festival and he even asked them to prepare the closing performance. Although many people were worried about this, the result was a great success. The final act prepared by Tiger JK, Tasha and their musical partners attracted the largest audience since the festival was launched. Everyone enjoyed the music enthusiastically.
Mr. HONG explained, "Considering the audience is our first priority regardless of genre, we were able to achieve this success by promoting communication and sharing." He added, "At first, I didn’’t know a lot about Tiger JK and Tasha. I actually asked young friends and students who they thought should be the promotional ambassador. Then, 99 out of 100 people recommended this couple." He was then surprised to find out that Tiger JK had been born and raised in Uijeongbu and he had long been a star to the youth living in the city. Under these circumstances, Mr. HONG realized that Korean festivals weren’’t reflecting young people’’s interests and tastes.
Mr. HONG said, "A decade was sufficient for the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival to introduce high-level music theater to Koreans." He then emphasized this, "Now is time for us to give the Festival back to the people." He believes that a "festival for the people" is the secret recipe to differentiate the festival from others and secure the event’’s sustainability. That is why he firmly says to the staff working for the Festival organization, "No matter what happens, even if the press criticizes you harshly, just respect the principles and direction of the Festival. I’’ll take all the responsibility."
A Festival by All Citizens of Uijeongbu’’s Participation
"When the performance was first presented in the Grand Theater, I was amazed by the audience’’s enthusiastic response to this musical whose actors were just ordinary people from all different age groups, starting from 15-year-old students to 70-year-old adults. So this year in May, I’’m planning to present The Eleven Cats, a representative work by Hisashi Inoue, in the form of a musical. Particularly for this performance, ordinary people will play most of its parts including those of the leading and supporting actors. Consequently, it will be an exemplary case of a peoples’’ musical."
This year, the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival publicly selected 40 citizen-actors: 12 sopranos, 12 altos, 8 tenors and 8 basses. Since the audience positively reacted to the 32 citizen-actors who had been selected first, the Festival recruited 8 more actors. The Festival is also preparing a performance by Tiger JK and Tasha who drew the greatest attention from the youth last year.
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| Jaram Lee in the Ukchuk-ga, Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival 2011 |
Secondly, Mr. HONG is going to export performances which have been planned and produced especially for the Festival. As an example of a successful performance produced in this way, Mr. HONG mentioned the Ukchuk-ga, pansori performed by Jaram LEE, a young Korean classical musician. In 2011, the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival co-produced, along with Jaram LEE the musician and Inwoo NAM the producer, this pansori performance based on Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, an epic written by a German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The performance was acclaimed by critics. Last year in November, it was invited to perform at People’’s National Theatre in Paris, France and the festival held by the Hungarian State Theatre of Cluj in Romania where it received a standing ovation from the international audience.
He said, "Jaram LEE’’s Ukchuk-ga is the greatest fruit of the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival." He added, "Along with the export of Korea’’s cultural products, we could also look forward to a "Korean wave" in performing arts as well.
Last year, the Festival strengthened the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Awards and in this context, another performance was discovered by and performed during the event; Hyunje and Motel Gu, a pansori performed by Nani KIM, another Korean classical musician who will follow in Jaram LEE’’s footsteps. This year, in cooperation with Platanus, a fusion Korean classical music company from the Korea National University of Arts, the Festival will present a music theater version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is well known as a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and as a film.
"During the Uijeongbu Music Theatre Awards, there will be a public contest. For the contest, we’’ll provide competitors with just some basic ideas and let them produce a work from them. We’’ll then have the competitors present these works. It isn’’t certain that all of these works will be successful but I believe that it is important to continue to give opportunities to young creative minds. Our ultimate goal is to export at least one work in the name of ’’Made in Uijeongbu’’ in ten years."
He emphasized that he will "develop the Festival into an incubator of Korean masterpieces acclaimed by the international audience."
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Mr. HONG said, "Leading the Festival for the past two years, what I find it the most fruitful is the fact that the activities of the Citizens’’ Committee, an evaluation group composed of citizens, and those of the Leaders, a civic group of volunteer workers, have greatly increased"
"After last year’’s Festival ended, the Citizens’’ Committee harshly criticized the event. Half of the committee members said that it was good and the other half said that it was bad. It means that they observed the event with great interest. Meanwhile, a civic group gathering together adolescents and seniors over 60 has also been very active, naturally contributing to the harmony of different generations and strata."
He insisted on the fact that "the development of a festival requires continuity." He also added that "continuous efforts to mobilize ordinary people as the festival’’s keepers and helpers are important.
"Too often in Korea, after every local government election, a new artistic director will be appointed even to a very successful festival, and will change the nature and size of the event. Under these circumstances, only citizens can stop these local elected leaders from making unilateral changes to suit their own whims. That is why citizens’’ participation is important. When citizens adopt the festival as their own and when they form a basis of the events, festivals can be successful."
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2012 Uijeongbu International Music Theatre Festival Go
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