1. "Koreans are Coming"

Time magazine said as it's cover story
since we had KAL flight to USA in 1972.

2. Before that, we virtually grew up
hearing about Chung Kyung-hwa,
born in 1848, how famous Violinist
she was after she came to USA in 1960s.

3. I think she and her brother and sister
inspired many Young Koreans those days,
not only in Music, but also in many other
fields as Rhee sun-bae-nim mentioned above.

4. 108 years after our Immigation History to
USA(it began in 1903), hearing Korean Names in
this country is not rare any more.

5. One of them is Dr. Park Noh-hee, Dean of
UCLA Dental School who made 4th term of Dean
of the school, for the first time in it's history as Korean
Newspaper reported the other day.

6. Koreans came as Time magazine noted in 1970s.
But let them remember Koreans are Living in this country
and Staying with other Ethnic Group to contribute, to devote
to the country _ USA.

They Made Home Here!, Not Forgetting Their Motherland!

PS; Thank you, Sukjoo-nim, for your showing us Chung Trio
and I wrote this with help of wikipedia as my thought of the
day. Thanks again.
as

Thanks for the comments, Dr. Bang.
Still you would agree we have a long, long way to go,
and we will for sure as long as we have the attitude towards our professions
such as that of our conductor, Chung.

Myung-whun Chung (born 22 January 1953, Seoul) is a South Korean pianist and conductor.

His sisters, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Myung-wha Chung, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio.^[1] He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition.^[2] Chung studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School. He also studied piano with Maria Curcio, the last and favourite pupil of Artur Schnabel.^[3][4] Chung was an assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the music directorship of Carlo Maria Giulini and founder of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra.

In Europe, Chung was chief conductor of the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1990. He was principal guest conductor of the Teatro Comunale Florence, from 1987 to 1992.^[5] He has conducted virtually all the prominent European and American orchestras and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1986 with Simon Boccanegra. At the end of the 1987/88 seasons, he received the Premio Abbiati Award from Italian critics, and the following year the Arturo Toscanini prize. From 1989 to 1994, Chung served as the Music Director of the Paris Opera. He opened the inaugural season at the new Opéra Bastille with Berlioz's complete Les Troyens and received highly praised reviews from the music circle. In 1991, the Association of French Theatres and Music Critics named him "Artist of the Year" and in 1992 he received the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the Paris Opera. An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon since 1990, many of his numerous recordings have won international prizes and awards. These include Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie and Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., Verdi's Otello, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the Opéra Bastille Orchestra; a series of Dvořák's symphonies and serenades with the Vienna Philharmonic, a series dedicated to the great sacred music with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, including the award-winning recording of Duruflé's and Fauré's requiems with Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel.

In 1995 he was honoured three times at the French Victoires de la Musique Classiques, and was also named Meilleur Chef d'Orchestre de l'Année. He directed the world premiere of Messiaen's last work: the Concert à quatre for four soloists and orchestra, which the composer had dedicated to Chung and the Orchestre de la Bastille. He has been the Special Artistic Advisor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2001 and was as awarded the highest Record Academy Prize by Japanese critics following his performances in Japan. In addition to being awarded numerous music prizes, Chung has also been honoured with Korea's most distinguished cultural award, the Order of Cultural Merit or Geum-gwan Medal (Gold Crown) 금관장, for his contribution to Korean musical life and was named "Man of the year" by UNESCO. He served as Ambassador for the Drug Control Program at the United Nations and was Korea's Honorary Cultural Ambassador, the first in the Korean government's history. From 1997 he has been the Music Director of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, from 2000 the Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, from 2001 the Special Artistic Advisor of Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and from 2006 the Art Director and Principal Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.^[6][7]

In April 2011, the Seoul Philharmonic became the first Asian orchestra to sign a major-label record deal, committing to make 10 CDs for Deutsche Grammophon.^[8] Chung, who from the 2012/2013 season will be the first Principal Guest Conductor in the history of the Staatskapelle, has agreed to conduct one of the Easter Festival’s concert programmes in 2013.

In September 2011, Chung made a cultural breakthrough visit to Pyongyang, returning with an agreement to form an orchestra made up of musicians from North and South Korea

ㅡ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Your article about Chung Myung-hyun's planned visit to N. Korea is
reminding me of NY Philharmonic's Visit to Pyongyang in 2008, Sukjoo-nim.

It was shown nationwide by CH 13 _ PBS, narrated by Neal Shapiro,
President and CEO of CH 13.

If I insert myself into this matter, in 1998 right after I took charge of
Korean-American Youth Foundation, I visited Korea to consult the
possibility of inviting children of N. Korea to NY. With help of my friend
who was Bureau Chief of Chosun Ilbo, I visited Ministry of Unification

After the meeting, I saw the possibilty and I talked with CH 13.
They were excited about the propect, having Children of N. Korea
and South Korea and Our Children from NY performing together
at Lincoln Center and they wanted to televise nationwide, if it happens.

But I gave up the idea after I saw South and North Korea Summit Meeting
held in Pyongyang in June 2000 as you might remember.

PS: 1.  I don't want to go into details about what I did after I visted Korea
for that purpose. But someday, our country will be United under the Flag
of Our Motherland whether it takes 20 to 30 years as they predict.

2. Lorin Maazel was the conductor then and you can view a glimpse of their
visit to Pyongyang, if you search on wikipedia - "NY Phil in Pyongyang".

Thanks, Sukjoo-nim.

코멘트 올려주시어 감사드립니다. Dr.Bang.
음악으로 사람들을 한 마음으로, 하나로 되어지기를 꿈꾸며 북한을 찾았던 2008년의 "NY Phil in Pyongyang"  !
이번엔  정명훈씨의 노력으로 남북 오케스트라를 만들어 서울과 평양을  오가며 연주를 한다니 " NY Phil "  연주와는 조금 다른, 같은 민족의 단합 연주로 느껴지기에  이번엔 좋은 결과가 있게 되기를 기대하고, 남북 오케스트라의 '합창 교향곡' 연주 울림이 통일의 날을  앞당기게 할 수 있게 되기를  염원합니다.

어린이들, 젊은이들을 위해 많은 관심을 갖으시고 좋은 일 하시는 Dr.방께 존경과 큰 박수를....
더욱이 북한어린이들과 남한 어린이들의 합동 음악회를 링컨 센터에서 열기를 원하셨다니 상상만해도 가슴 설레는 그 꿈이 언젠가 꼭 이루어 지시기를 바랍니다.

조금전 YouTube에 들어가 "NY Phi in Pyongyang' 동영상 clip과 함께  북한 생활 동영상도 몇개 눈에 띄어 보았지요.
'요독 스토리' 등으로 북한 강제 수용소에 대한 참상을 알고는 있었으나 수용소에서
태어나고 자라다 탈출한  26살 청년의 비참한 스토리를 동영상으로 보고 너무나 마음이 아픕니다. 그들을 위해서라도 하루 속히 남북통일이 되기를 빌고 또 빕니다.