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A scene from the opening act of ``Love Letter,’’ an original opera produced by Seoul City. The production will premiere Wednesday evening at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, downtown Seoul.
/Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts |
 By Lee Hyo-won
Finally, fans can enjoy a three-act opera featuring poetic, and at times comical, libretto in Korean, and moreover, themes that thoroughly resonate with the local audience.
``Love Letter’’ was born out of Seoul City’s initiative to launch a marketable homegrown opera, and it will finally be unveiled Wednesday evening at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Jongno.
As much as the opera was sponsored by the metropolitan government, the piece showcases the many faces of the city through a love triangle that is reincarnated over three different generations. The first act takes the audience a few centuries back to the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), when the capital was called Hanyang, to Gyeongseong, as the city was called at the turn of the 20th century through the colonial period (1910-45), and finally, present-day Seoul.
A rehearsal session open to the press Monday revealed the spectacular set design, conjuring to life a colorful market scene of the Joseon era. The first act is a visual feast, with street musicians performing mask dances and a beautiful entourage of ``gisaeng’’ (female entertainers) strutting down the street.
Among these women is the heroine Do-sil, the most sought-after gisaeng of the day, who is actually from a ruined noble family. Bitter about her past, she enjoys toying with her admirers until she meets the pure-hearted silk merchant A-reuk. He confesses his love for her by using his own hair to stitch a love letter onto a long piece of silk.
Their love is interrupted by Jae-pil, a nobleman who, blinded by his lust for Do-sil, loses his entire fortune. Enraged that the young woman is infatuated with another man, he tries to commit suicide and take Do-sil with him, by dragging her into a burning building. A-reuk sacrifices his own life to save Do-sil by jumping into the flames.
The fateful love triangle carries on through two subsequent reincarnations, as Do-sil is reborn as a singer and fashion designer, respectively, while Jae-pil continues to harass her as a wealthy and powerful suitor, and A-reuk roams the world as a lost soul.
The second act opens with a strong musical beat, as the audience is introduced to the modern boys and girls of a westernized Korea. In the third part, set amid the tall skyscrapers of present-day Seoul, when Do-sil tries to design a piece using the silk love letter.
The opera weaves in strong fantasy elements of reincarnation and karma, as well as the idea of ``han’’ (unfulfilled wishes or painstaking sorrow), which are commonly found in local folktales. The cast of young, up-and-coming singers, particularly the stunningly beautiful soprano-tenor Hahn Yoon-seok (A-reuk) and baritone Kyung-suk (Jae-pil), who are brothers, brings a breath of fresh air to the star-crossed love story.
One regret is that this fantasy element does not attribute itself to any sort of religious roots, such as Buddhism or shamanism; only the bookshop keeper who seems to know all the secrets and serves as a narrator of sorts, provides explanations. The flow of the narrative suffers somewhat due to the lack of framework.
Nevertheless the strong vocals and eye-catching set designs pave a promising way for future homegrown projects. The production brings together top Korean talent, including Park Se-won, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Opera and Seoul National University professor, as its general director. Cho Kwang-hwa, famous for musicals such as ``Seopyeonje’’ and ``Harmonium in My Heart,’’ directed the production, which features compositions by Choe U-zong, a Seoul National University professor who is known as the music director of the Ensemble TIMF.
The opera will be staged at the Grand Theater through Saturday. Kim and Hahn will perform Wednesday and Friday, while soprano Kim Eun-kyung and tenor Choi Seong-soo will play the lead roles on Thursday and Saturday afternoon and Hahn Ye-jin (soprano) and Eom Seong-hwa (tenor) will appear in Saturday evening’s cast.
The performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., with an additional performance at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets cost from 10,000 to 70,000 won. Call (02) 399-1114~6 |
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