The PyeongChang Winter Music Festival, the winter edition of the annual Great Mountains Music Festival, returns this year once again with an offering of jazz and classical music.

Launched last year to promote the area as a hub of cultural activities ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the music festival will be held Feb. 15 - Feb. 19 at the Alpensia Concert Hall. 

This year’s program will kick off with a unique piece that brings together traditional pansori, a narrative song sung to drum accompaniment, with cello and the piano. Based on the motif from “Sarangga” of “Chunhyangga,” a well-known pansori of young love, composer Lim Jun-hee’s “Three Sarangga for Pansori, Cello, Piano & Buk” is a dynamic mix of the Western classical instruments and Korean narrative song tradition where the cello and singer engage in a musical dialogue.

Cellist Chung Myung-wha, who serves as the festival’s co-artistic director along with violinist Chung Kyung-wha, vice artistic director pianist Son Yeol-eum, pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun and a Korean percussion instrument player perform the familiar yet unfamiliar “Three Love Songs.” 

The jazz side of the festival is to be represented by John Beasley, a jazz pianist, producer and composer who will give five performances throughout the festival. On the first night, Beasley will take to the stage with a solo performance. Also on stage on the opening night is the piano duo Anderson & Roe. Classically trained pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe will perform pieces that are centuries apart, from Mozart to Ravel to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The second night of the festival is devoted to a jazz program with performances by Korean jazz vocalist Woongsan and MONK’estra, led by Beasley. Performing as part of MONK’estra is bassist Darryl Jones of the Rolling Stones, drummer Gene Coye, saxophonist Bob Sheppard, trombonist Lemar Guillary, saxophonist Tom Luer and trumpeter Dontae Winslow.

Beasley formed the 15-piece MONK’estra as a tribute to the iconic American jazz musician Thelonious Monk, bringing a modern day big band sound to the music scene. Jazz lovers in Korea will have a unique opportunity to see MONK’estra perform live during the PyeongChang Winter Music Festival.

In keeping with the lively mood of the jazz part of the festival, the classical music offering is also kept buoyant with performances by some of today’s best known young musicians, including violinist Lim Ji-young, violist Lee Hanna and cellist Isang Enders, among others. As co-artistic director Chung Myung-wha noted during last month’s press conference introducing the festival, this year’s programming includes classical pieces that reference jazz influence, such as Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” which will be performed by Son on Feb. 18.

“Young people will appreciate the attempt to mix classical music with traditional Korean music, and the performances of classical pieces where jazz style can be felt,” Chung said at the conference.

For more information on PyeongChang Winter Music Festival, visit www.musicpyeongchang.com

By Kim Hoo-ran (khooran@herald.com)