Vol. 09, Issue 12 December 2009 
Extraordinary Renditions
Some cultural events are not attended by many foreigners, and others are not attended by any foreigners that live here. These seemingly underground events can be a great way to learn more about Korea, if you can figure when and where they are taking place.
Gwangju Symphony Orchestra
On Saturday, November 7th an amazing performance of double-bass by Song Min-jae turned the recently-sanguine Gwangju Symphony Orchestra (GSO) audience into a boisterous crowd that burst into an applause that lasted through four off and back-on the stage walks and bows. The 19-year-old virtuoso, who has performed as a solo bassist in front of full orchestras since he was 16, is currently in the double-bass ensemble Passione Amore in Munich, Germany. It is rare to see a bass soloist, but Song’s performance was evidence that he is on his way to a brilliant career. It also is further proof that the GSO has a capable conductor/artistic director in Gu Cha-boem, who should be retained for a long as possible.
Song started his night with a Stuart Sankey arrangement of Bizet’s “Carmen Fantasy.” This may read like a novelty on paper, but the reality was stunning, as Song jumped to the extreme range of his instrument with precision, passion and practiced enthusiasm, thereby gracing our ears with an extension of his heart. Though sweaty, he then returned to the stage to perform Sarasate’s Opus 20 “Zigeunerweisen.” This time he extended the upper range of the double-bass with harmonics performed a full speed.
A harmonic is executed by placing a left-hand finger lightly, quite precisely on a string without pressing the string down so far it makes a “first pitch”, the normal tone created at any given place on a fingerboard. Much higher harmonic tones are possible, but not often required of bassists as part of a classical performance.
Of course, Song obliged this maneuver while in the middle of multi-octave-jumping, at the end of lengthy arpeggios, and often for 16th notes … meaning he was able to use this technique in the middle of runs that were tricky enough at first pitch. OK maybe the exuberance of youth caused him to show off, and maybe someone near the stage in the stodgy section wondered whether this young man would ever be satisfied playing as the third bassist in an orchestra section. Well, perhaps Song Min-jae won’t have to do an awful lot of that, as he has already recorded a CD with the Butenberg Chamber Orchestra, and signed a contract with Deutsche Grammaphone last January.
Like most music virtuosos, Song came from a musical family. His father is a member of the Seoul Symphony Orchestra. He started taking bass lessons at age 10, and was the youngest competitor at the Matthias Double-Bass Competition in St. Petersburg (17) in 2007, and won the competition in 2008.
In 1974 I saw Australian Barry Tuckwell perform a flawless version of Hayden’s Horn Concerto No. 1 in D, in front of the Rochester (N.Y.) Philharmonic. Until now, no other concerto or night of solo work has managed to match that evening, but Song Min-jae’s performance was brilliant, and the GSO went on the perform an excellent version of Tchaikovsky’s fifth Symphony.
It is the second time inside one year that they have performed it, and it proved that the quality of the orchestra improved considerably, especially in the brass section. The first performance was with an American guest conductor, then after nine months of Gu Cha-boem’s notoriously stringent rehearsals, the same piece proved much more harmonious.
The Daedong Cultural Foundation
The Daedong Cultural Foundation welcomed nine Asian artists to Gwangju for a week-long residency titled “The Freedom of Asia Spirit,” on November 18. From China, photographers Zhao Da Peng and Zhao Nai Jian, as well as painters Huang Xiao Fen and Chi Xue Ling were invited. From The Philippines installation artist Mark Ramsel N. Salvatus III, from Singapore assemblage artist Terence Lin, from India painter Devedra Kumar Shukla, from Taiwan sculptor Yang Ming Dye, and from Japan traditionalist Mika Ando gathered to swap art ideas, make new works, and exhibit at Gallery Nine.
The foundation, in its role as a regional cultural developer, puts out a commendable bi-monthly magazine that covers Jeollanam-do in 150 pages worth of glossy photos and in-depth stories. This is the first residency supported by the Daedong Culture Foundation that has included as many as nine international artists. The diversity of cultures was matched by the diversity of styles, ranging from traditional watercolors to abstract expressionism. At the opening ceremony, which was held at the Hiddink Continental Hotel downtown, artists presented slides and large-scale prints of completed works and talked about motivations and techniques.
Photographer Peng Zhao Da was clicking away and smiling at the opening ceremony. His distinguished career includes founding the photography department at the Luxun Academy of Fine Art. He has published four books of photographic collections, most recently “Earth Constructions.” Although cemented, by years, into the role of elder-statesmen, it was Peng’s youthful enthusiasm that inspired younger artists in the residency.
The group participated in cultural forays, including donning hanboks and visiting historic sites around Gwangju. These visits probably helped shape what was produced while in town.
Dye Yang Min’s work stood out for its imaginative use of semi-transparent lustrous “plastic rocks” that have a variety of colors that relate well to each other in each sculpture. She hangs these on glass shelves that form a floating sculptural walking path that invites viewers to try to figure out how she makes the plastic around these “rocks” distort the floor below to create the effect that they are floating in water, not air. Her work here in Gwangju demonstrated attention to how colors relate to each other. Colored plastic in black, red and white hangs over black, cream and pink in work that mixes texture and graphics and expressive color splashes and shapes. The shadow lurking under the work adds a dimension that acts as a base. She is currently an assistant professor of Plastic Arts at Tainan National University in Taiwan.
Mark Ramsel N. Salvatus III placed his local work on the ceiling, which is not surprising considering the range of installations he has built and exhibited worldwide since 2001. Placing repetitive shapes in somewhat changeable in patterns has been a standard approach for Salvatus, and in Gwangju he started with a map and took a magic marker to “computerize” what appears to be a map of Jeollanam-do. This also causes a camouflage effect that made it feel like a map that had been heavily censored by military officials. The green and white map with black and some brown marker is eerie because all references to the location the maps depict have been marked-out completely. Salvatus is an assistant professor at Kalayaan College in the Philippines.
Terence Lin, of Singapore, zoomed-in on cities and how the make-up of cities reach into human life and change our philosophy and behavior. His map of the BNY Apartment represents the beginning stage or work that, when finished, is made up of colored boxes that can spread out along the long wall of a museum. Placement of small boxes with contact paper, or solid paint, or designs is key, and the mini-cities work as both well-designed ideas, and as colorful explosions. It’s hard to get a feel for how effective his finished work can be from this drawing, but museums and galleries around Asia have been treated to his serious yet ultimately playful take on modern life.
Gallery Nine, which had recently displayed an excellent group of Gwangju artists at a very prestigious show in Cologne, Germany, displayed the works of the artists. Overall, the residency was a success, and proves that Gwangju will become more and more a place known to international artists, even before the Asian Cultural Center is completed.
