‘Cine Concert’ to be presented in Korea in October

“Cine Concert” opens at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul, to present audiences masterpieces of modern-era cinema musicians including Ennio Morricone who passed away last Monday.

Music by Hollywood music maestro John Williams will be played at 11:30 a.m. on July 24 in a brass quintet. Harmonica player Park Jong-seong plans to perform Morricone's pieces, which bring the beautifully toned melodies of Italian music from Baroque style to Puccini into movie soundtracks at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 23.

Taking the master's program in orchestra conductor at Hanyang University, the harmonica musician has gained musical fame with a span-long instrument in his hands. Park has collaborated with Korean Symphony Orchestra and PRIME Philharmonic Orchestra and joined globally famed soprano Jo Sumi’s nationwide tour concerts.

Invented in the 1850s in Germany, harmonicas have been underestimated despite its 160 years’ history because of their low and subtle sounds and limited performance technics. Soldiers consoled and comforted themselves during the two World Wars by playing the harmonica, which increased its popularity as an instrument to relieve solitude and loneliness on the battlefield. With amplifiers becoming of wider use on the music arena, harmonicas have been played at large-scale auditoriums with a growing popularity. Harmonicas are going beyond being an instrument for amateurs to presenting quality music to large audiences.

At the concert dedicated to Morricone scheduled in October, Park Jong-seong plans to perform "Gabriel's Oboe,” the main theme for the 1986 film “The Mission” and the main theme song of “Love Affair” in collaboration with pianist Cho Young-hoon. On July 24, the John Williams-themed concert will invite the brass quintet “Brass Market” who performs “Summon the Heroes,” the orchestral composition written for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and famous theme songs for “Indiana Jones” and “Jurassic Park.”


gustav@donga.com