A ‘Cheering Concert’ for Team Korea

World-class Korean musicians, including soprano Jo Su-mi and conductor Gu Ja-beom, will hold a large-scale concert wishing for the Korean national soccer team to be one of the final 16 teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The World Cup concert will be held on June 23 in the outdoor park beside the Hannover World Cup Stadium in which the Korean team will play against the Swiss team.

Star M Entertainment, a performance planning company, decided to hold an outdoor concert for the Korean and the Swiss teams in which the Hannover Philharmonic Orchestra and Korean musicians perform at 2:30 p.m. on June 23 (local time) in the Plaza of Waterloo in Hannover, which is also the stage for “Fan Festival,” an official cultural festival for the World Cup. The company exchanged a contract with the National Opera Theater of Hannover yesterday.

The “cheering concert” by musicians from a participating country in an official festival venue of 12 cities which hold World Cup games is the only one of its kind that is scheduled during the World Cup. The Plaza of Waterloo is a lawn with the capacity of a 20,000-strong audience and is near the Hannover World Cup Stadium.

Gu Ja-beom, who will be the standing conductor of the National Opera Theater of Hannover, will be the conductor of the concert, and soprano Jo Su-mi, tenor Park Gi-chun, who is the main singer of the National Opera Theater of Hannover, and bass baritone Kim Tae-hyun will perform in the concert. Opera arias and preludes to be performed include Johan Strauss’ operetta, “The Bat,” and “Nessun Dorma” from Pucini’s opera “Turandot.” The concert will continue for about two hours.

Gu said, “I want to make a concert in which the performers and audience members could wish for a good game between the two countries and be one in their hearts, rather than just supporting for Korea’s victory,” adding, “I included the prelude for Rossini’s Wilhelm Tell in the program.”

The Korea Broadcasting System is reportedly planning to air the concert three hours after it starts so that the viewers could watch the Korea-Switzerland match right after the concert. The match will begin at 9:00 p.m.

Also, starting at 1:00 p.m. that day, one-and-half hours prior to the classic concert, a concert by Korean pop singers, including Psy, will be held to entertain the audience.

Korean residents in Germany and the Korean cheering squad who will attend the concert will remain in their seats to cheer for the Korean team.

Noh Seung-rim, a management director of Star M, explained, “We planned this concert to wish that the Korean team would have a good game in the match against Switzerland, which will be a critical step to be one of the final 16 teams, and to create a forum for exchange between Korean youths and young Koreans living in Germany.” The company is also planning to start a concert blog in which Korean youths in Korea and overseas could meet.

The manager of the Hannover Philharmonic Orchestra said, “All of the orchestra members are preparing for the concert full of hope that they would feel connected with the many audience members who wish for a good game between Korea and Switzerland.”

Korean Football Association President Chung Mong-jun and Niedersachsen Governor Christian Wulff will be among participants of the concert. An official at the National Theater of Hannover suggested, “We are trying to find out if a leading figure of the global football community, whose attendance would surprise the audience, could also participate in the concert.”

Yoon-Jong Yoo gustav@donga.com