Culture News Roundup

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Korea's Hearts of Vision Chamber Orchestra, comprised of visually impaired musicians, held its first concert in Moscow, Russia. Meanwhile, here in Korea an exhibition of long-beloved paintings from the Joseon era is attracting art lovers. Here’s more in our culture news roundup.

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Musicians enter the stage while holding on to the arms of fellow performers. There is no conductor or music scores. They're the members of Korea's Hearts of Vision Chamber Orchestra, the world's first chamber orchestra made up of visually impaired musicians. Starting with Beethoven's Egmont Overture, they move onto Tchaikovsky's piece. Then they play Shostakovich's Waltz followed by a Russian folk song. Their moving performance drew a thunderous applause from some 1,000 audience members.

[Soundbite] Deanna(Moscow Citizen) : "It was a very moving performance. I couldn't tell that they were visually impaired."

All the lights are turned off for the encore. In the dark the musicians and audience become one to feel the music with their hearts.

[Soundbite] Prof. Lee Sang-jae(Music Director, Heart Chamber Orchestra) : "I want them to be recognized as real musicians, not musicians with visual impairments. I also want to turn them into a genuinely great orchestra."

The Hearts of Vision Chamber Orchestra, with ten out of its 23 members visually impaired, is scheduled to hold concerts at home and abroad, including a show in the United States in April of 2017. Paintings of bookshelves filled with books are called "Chaekgado," or "Chaekgeori" in pure Korean. An exhibition of chaekgeori paintings is underway, demonstrating the ancient Koreans' love of books. These paintings illustrate the prevailing sentiment of the time - "When you don't have time to read books, enjoy them with your heart by looking at the painting." The chaekgeori painting, a branch of art which first started in the royal family, became more diverse as the discipline grew popular even among the common people.

[Soundbite] Lee Dong-guk(Head of Calligraphy Dept., SAC) : "Joseon was the only place where such paintings were popular for about 200 years. These paintings can be revalued as the most universal formative language."

Some 30 chaekgeori masterpieces will be displayed during a U.S. tour slated to begin this September.