Korean War Veterans Memorial Concert

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Parent Category: Blogs

Category: Jack Angstreich

Published on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 12:02

Written by Jack Angstreich

On the evening of August 26th, 2010, numerous Korean War veterans turned out for a memorial concert at Avery Fisher Hall held in their honor. The concert was introduced by Congressman Charles Rangel.

The music began pleasantly with a couple of Korean songs and a Schubert work sung by the Korean Women's Chorus of Germany clothed in colorful traditional dress. This was followed by G.F. Handel's great aria, "Ah, mio cor!" from Alcina, sung forcefully by soprano, Kyoung-ran Kim accompanied by the New York Symphony Orchestra.

Pianist Carissa Kim joined the orchestra in an appealing rendition of Mozart's exceedingly popular Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major. After this, celebrated countertenor Sae-jin Kim received an enthusiastic response for his performance of Handel's "Lascia h'io pianga" from Rinaldo. The Korean Women's Chorus of Germany then returned to sing several, beautiful Korean folksongs.

After intermission, another traditional song was performed on the Korean oboe. The oboist was then joined by the charismatic Bohemian Singers who ebulliently sung popular arias by Bizet, Puccini, and Verdi as well as "Beautiful Dreamer", "Danny Boy", a Zambian folksong, and -- unforgettably -- "Hava Nagila"!

Tenor Dong-Ho Shin took the stage to offer skilled renditions of another Korean song and Donizetti's "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'amore. The irrepressible Bohemian Singers returned with two more Korean songs and, remarkably, with "When The Saints Go Marching In" and "Oh Happy Day!".

The concert closed on a triumphant note as Shin joined the Singers in a version of Puccini's ever-popular "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot.

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