Jeju International Choir Festival & Symposium

Held annually at one of Korea’s most peaceful islands, the Jeju International Choir Festival welcomes renowned international choirs from around the world to participate in its winter festival that has always been literally synonymous with the word peace.

Scheduled to happen from 22 – 25 February, the festival will be hosted at the Grand Theater of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province – Jeju Culture & Art Center; it can host up to 828 seated audiences.

This year, it continues to see participation under the leadership of Artistic Director, Hee-Churl Kim and Associate Director, T. J. Harper (USA).

Its forums, lectures and round table sessions regarding the development of arts festivals in the region were led by prominent choral masters of today including Susanna Saw (Malaysia) and three others from South Korea: Sunah Kim, Ingi Min and Shinhwa Park.

On the third day (Feb 24), it hosted the JICF Amateur Choral Competition Awards & Concert. Its final day (today) activity starts at 11 a.m. onwards; a day fully dedicated to the choral workshop for the Jeju Choirs.

Featured participation includes UNIMA Choir (Indonesia), SYC Ensemble Singers (Singapore), Ensemble Musicaficta (Italy) and Cafe Chorale (Costa Rica). Jeju Prim Philharmonic Orchestra was invited as JICF’s special guest.

Director Hee-Churl Kim emphasises that ‘blending’ is more important than anything else in the choir. Blending between the choir members, blending with the choir, and blending between the locals and the participating teams. Fortunately, the Jeju Chorus Festival is a blend of Jeju Islanders, as the year goes by, it’s getting better and more harmonious.

Listen to JICF’s 2021 theme song ‘Rise Up Again’, here.

Participation from other South Korean choral group include:

– Busan Metropolitan Chorus

– Incheon City Chorale

– Seongnam Civic Chorus

– Gumi City Choir

– Mapo District Choir

– Geumcheon-gu Women’s Choir

– Bundang-gu Ladies Choir

– Jeju Provincial Seongwipo Chorale

– Collegium Vocale Seoul

– Daegu CTS Senior Choir

– Seoul Kodaly Singers

– Seoul Choral Society

– Jeju Art Choir

– JOA Choir

– The High School Choir at Korea International School Jeju Campus

Latest information about Jeju International Choir Festival & Symposium can be found on their official website, here.

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