K-Culture Takes Center Stage at Major European Festivals This Summer
Creatrip Team
a month ago
Korean arts and culture are prominently featured across Europe's top festivals this summer. The Avignon Festival in France, celebrating its 80th year, selected Korean as an official invited language for the first time, staging a reading of Han Kang’s novel (작별하지 않는다) and several Korean theater works by director Koo Ja-ha, plus a pansori (traditional Korean vocal performance) by singer Lee Jaram. Korean cinema and a major Lee Ufan art exhibition will also appear. In London’s West End, the Seoul-set rock musical The Last Man runs locally. Classical music festivals likewise spotlight Korean musicians: pianist Im Yunchan opens the BBC Proms, violinist Park Su-ye debuts at the Proms, and multiple Korean artists perform at Verbier and the Lucerne Festival (including Cho Seong-jin and Im Yunchan). Composer Jin Eun-sook will co-lead a composition seminar at Lucerne and soon serve as Berlin Konzerthaus composer-in-residence. Organizers say K-pop’s global reach has opened wider European interest in Korean high arts and cultural history.
