2005/8/
Musical The Sword of Fire publication photo
2006/08/19
2006 [ Musical Winter Sonata] Tokyo Performance publication
2006 [ Musical Winter Sonata] Tokyo Performance publication
Birthday Party photo
Korea fan club gave him a gold card as a birthday present .
He bit the gold card for it is real or not. ㅋㅋ
2006.7.1
At his birthday party!!!
He sang several songs for us !!
Paris by night ..
When he went to america for "Korea-American day" performance , he also shot this program," Paris by night" for beatnamese.
This poster is for this program.. But I can't find his face.. where??
Oh.. my... I find.. It's very small.. no.. tiny.. Can you see his face??
When I met him at first time
When I met him at first time, I shot the vod.
I want to remember first feeling.. ...
When I saw him at first time, he was playing a piano and sang a song with his company.
He looked very happy and shined among them.
He came up to me with smile face.
Even though that moment was the first time when I saw him , I felt him like a man who I already had met .
I felt very familiar feeling with him.
I gave my drawing to him and took a picture with him.
He was very kind and mild. I will never foget that feeling.
He always smiled at me.. It was so fantastic..
Winter Sonata Promotion Event
Musical Winter Sonata Promotion Event of Snow festival on Feb,6th, 2006 at sapporo in Japan
Winter Sonata interview 2
Musical winter sonata interview in Nami island.
MC: Musical Winter sonata producer announce musical Winter Sonata casts.
Yester day, those casts started to exercise.
On Nami island, which is home of Drama "Winter sonata", they had a first meeting.
We met them on this islan.
M:Hi, every one!
W:Hi, nice to meet you.
M:I'm Im tae-kyung who will play "Jun-shang".
W:I'm Park hong-Ju who will play "You-Jin".
M:In this island which was background of drama Winter Sonata, we can make the start of musical Winter Sonata meaning.
MC: At first time, musical casts met together.
M: Nice to meet you.My name is Im Tae-kyung.
Q: What difference is it between drama and musical?
W: Musical can show you many different amusements like music, and dance for musical is very different genre from drama.
Q: Do you have any stress of Drama Winter Sonata ?
M: Our Winter Sonata is not an epigon of drama Winter sonata.
Because it is born again as a musical, I think its league is different from drama.
Q: What is an attraction of musical Winter Sonata?
M: Like a snowflake.. Snow is not soft and comfortable, but also cold. Like this, we want to show you beautiful and pathetic love story on our winter Sonata. I think it is attration of our musical. ...
M: Please give me your cheering~~ we will go to Japan and show them Korea's beauty.
W: I also have same thought. We will do our best.
Therefore please give me your cheering~~
M&W: Witer Sonata! Cheer up !
Winter Sonata interview 1
Musical winter sonata interview in Namin island. His role in this musical is main male character "Jun-shang"
Musical `The Sword of Fire` stops short of expectations
2005-09-23 10:02"The Sword of Fire," a Korean musical about fateful love in Korea`s prehistoric era, has two distinctive features. First, it`s based on Kim Hye-rin`s hugely popular comic strip. Second, it`s one of the biggest homegrown musicals this year.The musical, which is now running at the National Theater of Korea, attempts to extend the unprecedented success of the original cartoon series by putting the flesh on the popular characters, Ara and Asa.
Ara, the fighter, loses his memory in the battle and falls in love with a kind-hearted girl named Asa. Their happiness, however, breaks apart soon due to the brewing conflict in the region.
Kim Hye-rin`s original cartoon series sold out more than 1 million copies in Korea, creating a large group of ardent fans and receiving a slew of awards. To repeat and go beyond the unprecedented success, the organizers of the musical version have poured resources into the project worth some 1.2 billion won, a sum that far exceeds the average production cost of a homegrown musical.
Furthermore, the musical features Im Tae-kyung and Lee So-jung as Ara and Asa, respectively. It is notable that Im, a cross-over tenor who has a solid fan base here, teams up with Lee, who has a high-profile career including the lead performance for Broadway musical "Miss Saigon" under her belt.
Indeed, the performances of Im and Lee were largely impressive during the press preview on Tuesday, but the overall quality of "The Sword of Fire" failed to meet the high expectations.
The initial failure to impress the audiences chiefly came from the organizer`s outsized ambition to make a large-scale original Korean musical that could compete with Broadway rivals on an equal footing.
But the main hall of the National Theater seemed too big for the musical. With actors occupying only part of the stage without a clear purpose, it was hard to focus on the major developments in the plot.
Another problem was that there were relatively too many dialogue-packed scenes while memorable musical scores were in short supply. It seemed somewhat inevitable that dialogues were employed frequently to get the story to roll forward in accordance with the original cartoon series, but such structure was not favored by today`s musical lovers, many of whom are familiar with the fast-paced, heart-pumping foreign musicals armed with a continuous stream of refined scores.
The story`s ancient background also backfired. Organizers claimed the musical differs from other Broadway imports since it deals with Korea`s unique historical settings. But such faithfulness to the historical element led to not-so-spectacular dancing performances.
"The Sword of Fire" will run through Oct. 23 at the main hall of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul. Tickets are 30,000 won to 120,000 won. For ticket reservations, call 1588-7890.
Who is Im tae-kyung?
2005-07-15 10:02
Tenor Im Tae-kyung, 31, is one of the local music world`s biggest crossover successes, having brought his classical vocals into the realm of mainstream popularity.His rival Lim Hyung-joo, a 19-year-old tenor, had been indisputably the biggest star of the genre until Im joined the competition last year and became widely loved for his clear, tenor voice and masculine vocals that are warm but dynamic and charismatic.
"My voice belongs to the light tenor category, while in the lower key, it is closer to that of baritone, which I have to give up if I want to be a classical tenor,`` Im said during an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday. "Of course I don`t want to. To me crossover music is very natural and comfortable.``
In a sense, Im`s life itself has been a "crossover.`` Born in Seoul, Im went to high school in Switzerland and college (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) in the United States. During the college years, he majored in production engineering and minored in voice. "I`m full of curiosity and just can`t stand it when the curiosity cannot be quenched,`` Im continued.
Im was set to work with Honda Group after graduating from the college, but he changed his mind and quit to study music at Boston University, so that, as he said, he would not have any regrets. At the school, Im was taught by tenor Richard Cassilly, who fully recognized Im`s potential. The professor, however, died of a sudden heart attack, while Im was attending the school.
"I was so depressed after the professor passed away, that I did not sing for a while. For the first time in my life, I began to think about why I had been born in the world, and why I had to continue singing.`` The answer came to him when he participated in a charity concert organized by the school`s Korean students` council, which was meant to help young pediatric cancer and leukemia patients. "I was glad to know that my voice could be a great comfort to those who are in trouble, and the knowledge has sustained me since," Im said.
Early last month, First Lady Gwon Yang-suk invited Im to the Blue House, along with other top-notch musicians of the country, and he sang in front of people who had overcome cancer. The concert was aired on KBS, and moved nationwide viewers. "It definitely was one of the top five stages I`ve ever come up with,`` the crossover singer said.
Currently, Im is working on another crossover experiment, which fuses his superb singing ability with acting through a musical drama.
This autumn, Im will play a lead character in an original, local musical titled "The Sword of Fire`` at the Haeoreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea, which is based on female cartoonist Kim Hye-rin`s mega-popular epic cartoon with the same title.
"The musical stage is something that I have always yearned for, although I`ve never performed on one,`` said Im, who, accordingly, was deeply touched by popular actor Cho Seung-woo`s charismatic voice and acting in the local musical version of "Jekyll and Hyde,`` last year.
"I think what matters the most in acting is being natural. Just like in music, I want to be a singer who communicates a good story faithfully, and hope that I can do the same thing on the musical stage.`` In the upcoming musical, Im will play Asa, an ancient Siberian warrier, who seek the love of beautiful Ara who is played by Lee So-jung, who is best known for her role of Kim in "Miss Saigon`` on Broadway.
Im said he would do his best not to hurt the reputation of the original cartoon. "Being strong and passionate is the stimulus. I want to be a singer who reveals touching emotions steadily, little by little." The musical will play September 19 through October 23 at Haeoureum Theater of the National Theater of Korea near Dongguk University station on subway line 3. Tickets are 50,000 won to 120,000 won. For more information call (02) 333-4693.
Article about Im tae-kyung
Crossover tenor Im Tae-kyung relaxes the weary with beautiful voice.“Crossover” means “fusion,” or an exchange between different genres of music. Particularly, it is used to imply integration between classical music and pop music. A representative song of the genre is “Perhaps Love” which was sung by Placido Domingo, one of “the world’s big three tenors,” and John Denver in the early 1980s. Crossover is consolidating its position around the world, as the music is providing fresh impact and becoming highly popular.
Crossover is not a familiar genre of music in Korea. But one crossover singer’s popularity is surging, as one of his songs continues its rise to the top of the monthly classical music chart. The person in focus is Im Tae-kyung, a crossover tenor. Let’s meet Lim, who is drawing close attention from both pop and classical music fans because of his masculine vocals that are smooth yet dynamic.
Q: You have been enjoying surging popularity lately, even actively appearing on TV shows. When did you begin performing as a crossover tenor?
A: I came to Korea without any specific plan to become a singer while I was studying in the United States. While I was learning various genres of music from composer Kim Hee-gap, I received a call from Jo Su-mi’s Korean management company, who said they were looking for a male popera singer.
From that occasion, I got the chance to sing songs with Jo Su-mi during the festival on the eve of the World Cup’s opening in 2002, and have been gaining fame ever since. And I became still more famous after I performed together with world-famous divas including soprano Shin Young-ok.
Q: You are known as a crossover tenor. What is the difference between popera and crossover?
A: I understand popera to be opera songs that are arranged in the format of pop music and sung by a classical singer. In a broader sense, popera is intended to imitate crossover. But I don’t stick with just classical music pop songs. If I can still express what a song is originally intended to represent, I want to also incorporate other genres of music, including Korean music. I use the title of crossover tenor because I want to perform a wide spectrum of music.
Q: I understand you studied engineering in the United States. Have you ever studied music formally?
A: I started to take singing and piano lessons when I was six. After graduating from elementary school, I entered the vocal music department at Yewon School and began learning singing formally, because I wanted to study music. After graduating from Yewon, I entered the Institute de le Rosey, a high school in Switzerland, to study as well as get relaxation, because I was in poor health at the time.
Then, I went to the U.S. to study science in 1992, because I had wanted to be a scientist when I was young. I earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in production engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), an engineering college in northeast America, and I continued to study vocal music as a sub-major during my high school and college years.
Q: It is rare that a person who studied production engineering at college now performs music for a living. What motivated you to perform music?
A: As I said, I acquired a master’s degree at WPI and was set to work with Honda Group after graduating. But I constantly thought I would really regret it later on if I did not enter the music field. From that time, I studied under a mentor continuously in order to prepare for music graduate school.
There was a tenor named “Richard Cassilly.” He was already very famous 10 years before Luciano Pavarotti reached the peak of his career. He was teaching students at Boston University. I sought to meet with him for three months because I wanted to learn music from him. But he would not meet me, saying that he had too many students already. I continuously tried to meet him using various tactics for three months, and he finally took time to meet me in the third month. Thus, I learned music from him for over a year.
Q: You overcame many hardships to get started in music, but you thought about giving it up while studying, right?
A: At first, I experienced severe mental stress while learning from the professor. He seemed to have recognized my talent, considering he accepted me as his disciple. But while giving me music lessons, he did not make any comment about me. He did not say a single word about whether I was doing well or not for six months.
One day, he introduced me to a general manager for a summer camp, and asked me to prepare for an audition at a summer school in Italy. Then he smiled for the first time, saying “His voice is very attractive.” I felt like I had conquered the world at that time. But only two weeks later, he died of a sudden heart attack. I was stunned. So, I thought I had better not sing any more, believing that problems occurred whenever I attempted to perform music. I thought I would never sing again.
Q: What made you to perform music again?
A: I did not sing after the professor died. At that time, I was serving as the head of the Korean students’ council, which was doing volunteer work to help young pediatric cancer and leukemia patients. One day, I had a chance to perform music to help those children. For the first time in my life, I came to think about why I had been born in the world, and wondered whether performing music was my mandate.
Meanwhile, I prayed to God to find an answer, and while I was listening to a pastor preaching, I realized why I had been born when I heard the pastor saying “Follow your heart.” At that time, I felt that my heart was urging me to sing songs, and that it would be wonderful if I could do something positive with my songs. That was the reason I resumed singing.
Q: What is the reason you chose to perform crossover and not classical music?
A: I majored in vocal music, but was not a true vocalist. In a sense, my life itself is an example of crossover. I lived in Korea, the United States and Switzerland, and attended engineering college as well as studied music. I like both vocal music and rock among the music genres, and I enjoy both Korean culture and European culture. To me, crossover music is very natural and comfortable. It was natural I decided to perform crossover music.
Q: What kind of musician do you want to be in the future?
A: I think what matters the most in music is being natural. So I try to deliver the intentions of the composer comfortably and accurately, without distorting them. That way, I am able to effectively absorb and deliver the emotions in the music. I want to be a singer who communicates a good story faithfully. I want to hear people saying “His songs are great to hear” without fail whenever I sing songs.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: As I continue to be faithful in the process of doing small things, I am guided to a destiny that I did not even expect. My wish and plan is that I will be a person who values the process more than the goal, and who is faithful in small things.
“Being strong and passionate is the stimulus. I want to be a singer who reveals touching emotions steadily, little by little.”
Lim Tae?kyung is reaching out to people somewhat cautiously compared with most rookie singers who want to deliver a strong impression. But we have high expectations that he will deliver stirring heartfelt emotions in all his future performances.
Article for Winter Sonata
photo by Aston (the master of Musical Winter sonata japan blog)
The popular South Korean TV drama Fuyu no Sonata (Winter Sonata) is now being performed as a stage musical in Sapporo with actors, actresses and backstage staff all from South Korea. The show is due to be performed again during this year's Sapporo Snow Festival in February, and then every year until 2010 as part of the popular annual event showcasing snow and ice sculptures.
The performance is in Korean with Japanese subtitles.
The TV melodrama starring Bae Young Joon and Choi Ji Woo ignited a craze for South Korean drama in Japan after the series was broadcast here. The drama also drew attention for its extensive use of beautiful snowy landscapes.
Im Tae Kyung, a well-known South Korean opera singer, and Go Young Bin, who performed at Shiki Theater Company in Japan for two years, will alternate playing the lead role that Bae -- known as Yonsama to his legions of Japanese fans -- made famous in the televised version.
Im, who had been to Hokkaido for skiing in the past, said it immediately made sense to him when he heard the musical was to be staged in Sapporo. I think the town's snowy image sits well with Winter Sonata, he said.
Speaking of the great popularity of the television series in Japan, Im said he wanted to use the pressure of stepping into such a famous role to produce his best-ever performance. I want to put on the perfect musical, unhindered by the popularity of the original, Go concurred.
The musical was created at the suggestion of Yun Seok Ho, who directed the television drama. Yun told the Sapporo Junior Chamber Inc. about his pet idea of making the drama into a musical after he was asked by the chamber to make a film with Sapporo as the backdrop. The chamber made the request as part of a drive to attract film and stage productions to Sapporo.
Yun and the chamber agreed to put on the musical during the Sapporo Snow Festival for the%2
Im tae-kyung's Profile
Birth- July 4th, 1973
Blood Type- RH+o
SCHOOLING
- graduated from 'Yewon School' (majored in Vocal Music)
- graduated from 'Institute Le Rosey' (in Switzerland)
- graduated from 'Worcester Polytechnic Institute', Bachelor of Engineering (minored in Vocal Music)
- graduated from 'Worcester Polytechnic Institute', Master of Engineering
- studied under 'Richard Casily' (Metropolitan Opera Tenor)
- passed the enterance exam at the school of music at Boston University
WINNING
- won the 'Korea-Japan Youth Music Award, Grand Prix'
- won the 'Music Excellence Award' in 1991,1992 (in Le Rosey)
CAREER
- in 2002
. had a recital with soprano Jo So Mi at the '2002 Korea-Japan World Cup Eve Festival' (in Suwon, Incheon, Jeonju)
. performed at the 'World Human Rights Day Festival' in East Timor
- in 2003
. participated in 'Centennial Dreams' (the commemorative album to celebrate 100 years Korean-American Immigration)
. participated in 'Ave Maria' by soprano Yu Mi Ja
- in 2004
. performed at the '2004 Korea Music Festival'
. performed at the 'Korea-China Music Concert'
. released 1st album 'Sentimental Journey'
- in 2005
. performed at the '2005 World Pottery Biennale'
. performed at the ceremony for the '2005 Jeonju International Film Festival'
. performed at the '6th Global Forum on Reinventing Government Reception'
. performed at the 'Korea-Japan Rainbow Concert'
. participated in the 'MBC Drama "Lawyers" OST'
. performed at the 'Jo Su Mi East Sea Fantasy' at 2005 Korea Music Festival
. led the chorus of the National Anthem for the 60th Anniversary Independence Day Ceremony
. performed at the 'Cultural Reception for APEC 2005 Korea'
. casted as main actor, 'Garahan Asa' of Korean Original Musical 'The Sword of Fire'
- in 2006
. casted as main actor, 'Joon Sang' of Musical 'Winter Sonata' in Japan
- In addition
. performed at the 'KBS Open Concert' and various kinds of Music Concerts
. performed at the International Performances
. participated in numerous recitals and concerts and in a church soloist
Im tae-kyung : Spring of Amur
The Original Sound Track of Korean musical "The Sword of Fire" .. Chapter 1. "Spring of Amur"
sung by Im tae-kyung & Lee so-jung ... (more)
Im tae-kyung : Please stay alive
Im tae-kyung : Please stay alive
The Original Sound Track of musical "The Sword of Fire" ... "Please stay alive" ...
kimslove's Crossover Tenor Im tae-kyung
kimslove's Crossover Tenor Im tae-kyung
He took this picture when he was in Scotland.
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