National Theater to hold Korea-Japan opera festival

The National Theater of Korea`s Small Theater Opera Festival has become an international event thanks to the participation of the Tokyo Opera Company. To be held in Seoul from Feb. 21-March 25, the festival will feature six operatic works starting with ¡°Seoul La Boheme,¡± an adaptation of Puccini`s ¡°La Boheme.¡±

To be performed by the Seoul Opera Ensemble, "Seoul La Boheme" stirred up a sensation when it was first staged in 1997. It was even the focus of a report on CNN.

Director Chang Su-Dong changed the setting from the University of Paris to Shinchon; Rodolpo, a poet, to Hansol, a former riot policeman who joined in the bloody suppression of the Kwangju civil uprising; and Mimi, a tuberculosis patient, to a victim of the suppression.

When performed for the first time, the work earned much praise for portraying figures and social situations that are very familiar to Koreans. But as Puccini`s dilettanti sense of freedom deeply penetrates his music, some critics complained that the operatic work did not fit with Korean emotions in the 1980s. Four years later, the work is poised for a critical reevaluation.

The festival is particularly significant, as operas written by Japanese composers will make their debut in Korea. Kin Tanaka¡¯s ¡®Howol-jon (the story of a tiger and the moon) will be performed by a team of Korean and Japanese actors and actresses.

The opera is about a government official who meets the soul of an old friend, now reborn as a tiger, while crossing over a mountain in the moonlight. ¡°Spring, Spring, Spring¡± composed by Lee Kon-Yong will be performed on the same day.

Written to commemorate the World Cup finals, the two works will be performed together in Seoul for the second time after being shown at the New National Theater of Japan last month.

Sejong Opera Company will perform Menotti`s ¡°Old Maid and a Thief,¡± which has been performed many times in Korea thanks to its suitability for staging in small theaters. Ahn Hee-Bok Opera Research Institute will give the first Korean performance of Viennese composer Lehar`s ¡°Luxemburg Count.¡± Tickets run from 10,000 won to 200,000 won. Call 02¡ª586¡ª5282 for more information.