The Korea Society proudly presents renowned p’ansori singer, Kim Sumi, in a rare New York performance of Korean traditional opera. P’ansori is a storytelling genre traditionally performed by a solo vocalist and a drummer playing a puk (barrel drum). The entire dramatic and narrative progression of the story rests on the singer who acts out all the characters, describes the scenes, and provides cultural and historical references. Kim Sumi will perform the “Song of Simch’ŏng, a classic tale of filial love in which a daughter sacrifices for her blind father.
LIVE HOUSE KOREA is made possible with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.
Korean Traditional P’ansori Concert: Song of Simch’ŏng
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
6:30 PM
The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
Chef Haelin Lee returns to The Korea Society for a special holiday cooking demonstration and hands-on workshop on seasonal teas and Korean sweets. We’ll brew Omija and Honey Tea; prepare several traditional Korean sweets (Walnut and Persimmon Roll Gotgamssam, Chestnut Paste Yullan, and Sesame Candy Kang Jung); and discover how to bake dried fruit. Chef Lee will also share some holiday packaging ideas so you’ll be able to take home the perfect holiday gift to family or friends.
Lauryn Chun, founder of Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi, launches her new book, The Kimchi Cookbook: 60 Traditional and Modern Ways to Make and Eat Kimchi, at The Korea Society on Wednesday, November 28. A superb introduction to making kimchi, the evening will inspire you to try Chun’s inventive Kimchi-inspired recipes, like Kimchi Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs, and make many different kinds of kimchi at home.
Youn-ho, who is about to be engaged to a longtime girlfriend, discovers that his mother has run away. Soon a loan shark comes calling. Now he must find his mother in order to survive.
James Church’s Inspector O novels have been hailed as “crackling good” (The Washington Post) and “tremendously clever” (Tampa Tribune), with Church himself embraced by critics as “the equal of le Carre” (Publishers Weekly). Now Church—a former Western intelligence officer who pulls back the curtain on the hidden world of North Korea in a way no one else can—comes roaring back with a new series featuring Inspector O’s nephew, Bing, the director of state security in a region in northeast China bordering North Korea. When clues point to a beautiful woman’s disappearance and Bing’s sensitive assignment to bring an agent across the North Korean border, O reluctantly helps him navigate an increasingly complex and deadly maze. James Church has crafted a beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart. Don’t miss this very special hour.
Dr. David R. McCann, Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature at Harvard University, reveals the unique correlation between 20th century Korean photographs and modern Korean poetry through examples from Traces of Life: Seen Through Korean Eyes 1945-1992, the current exhibition at The Korea Society Gallery.
Share in a musical global journey with virtuoso Mina Um, who took first at the Seventh Annual New York Music Competition and performed after at Carnegie Hall. She appeared as a soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Boston Festival Orchestra and Farmington Valley Symphony. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, she performed again at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Having appeared on ABC and in New York Magazine, Ms. Um performs works by Bach (Sonata No. 3), Paganini (Caprice No. 21, Op. 1), Piazzolla (Tango Etudes), and Yun Isang (Das Vogenchen from Li-Na im Garten). In preparing for her debut at TKS, Ms. Um hints, “My violin is my time machine. With it, I travel through time and around the world.”
Join literary lion Young-ha Kim as he discusses the release of Black Flower. This powerful drama creates fiction from a little-known historical moment when a thousand Koreans flee war and the loss of their nation before colonial annexation. The travelers endure harsh seas for the promise of land in Mexico, but soon discover they’ve been sold into indentured servitude. Aboard ship, an orphan, Ijeong, falls in love with the daughter of a noble; separated when the various haciendados claim their laborers, he vows to find her. After years of working in the punishing heat of the henequen fields, the Koreans are caught in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. Some flee with Ijeong to Guatemala, where they found a New Korea amid Mayan ruins. A tale of star-crossed love, political turmoil, and the dangers of seeking freedom in a new world, Black Flower is an epic story by the award-winning Kim.
Seventeen-year-old Wan-deuk has every reason to be a rebellious and troubled student. Though he has a disabled father, a runaway mother, and comes from a desperately poor family, he never loses a fight. Wan-Deuk meets teacher Dong-Joo, who inspires him take up kickboxing.
