GS Arts Center in Seoul to open April with American Ballet Theatre show
'GS Arts Center is looking for its audience,' said Sunny Park, CEO of the soon-to-open GS Arts Center, at a press conference on Tuesday.
The new performing arts venue, poised to raise its curtain in April, occupies the former home of LG Arts Center Yeoksam, which relocated to Magok in 2022. It is housed within GS Tower, near Yeoksam Station in Seoul's Gangnam District.
With a remodeling budget of 32 billion won ($22 million), the venue has slightly expanded its seating capacity from 1,103 to 1,211 and upgraded backstage facilities, all while preserving the center's core structure.
American Ballet Theatre will open the new GS Arts Center April 24-27 with "American Ballet Theatre: From Classic to Contemporary," which combines two mid-length ballets with gala-style excerpts, offering the audience a diverse repertoire.
All five Korean dancers at the company -- principal dancers Seo Hee and Ahn Joo-won, soloists Park Sun-mi and Han Sung-woo and Seo Yoon-jung from the corps de ballet -- will join ABT's 13 other principal dancers for the performances.
William Kentridge, Marcos Morau for curated series
The key initiative of the GS Arts Center's programming is its annual "Artists" series spotlighting two to three multidisciplinary creators each year for an in-depth exploration of their work.
Blurring the boundaries between music, dance, theater and media art, the series will showcase artists whose work defies categorization, offering audiences a multidimensional experience.
'We hope this will be more than just a venue. We want it to be a space that shapes the flow of contemporary culture,' Park said. 'We seek to present artists in a way that highlights not only their artistic imagination but also how their experiences and ideas intersect across genres.'
South African visual artist and director William Kentridge and Spanish contemporary choreographer Marcos Morau are leading the inaugural edition, both known for their genre-defying, interdisciplinary work.
One of the world's foremost contemporary artists, Kentridge is known for his work across charcoal drawings, prints, sculpture, opera and tapestry. Two of his quintessential productions will soon arrive in Seoul.
"Sibyl" is set to run May 9-10. It will include a short film with live music, "The Moment Has Gone," and the visually striking chamber opera "Waiting for the Sibyl."
"Oh To Believe in Another World: Shostakovich 10," which combines Kentridge's signature visuals with Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, will be staged May 30. Marking the 50th anniversary of the composer's passing. The production will feature a live performance by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
Three works by choreographer Morau, who creates worlds and imaginary landscapes where movement and image converge and transform into one another, are coming to Seoul, also in May.
The Ballet Nacional de Espana's "Afanador," slated for April 30–May 1, blends traditional flamenco with contemporary staging and black-and-white photography-like mise-en-scene. "Pasionaria," scheduled for May 16-18, a hallmark of Morau's visionary imagination, will be performed by his dance company La Veronal, while "Totentanz – Morgen ist die Frage" (also known as "Dance of Death") starts at GS Arts Center's lobby May 17-18, extending it into an immersive art space.
Ballet, jazz and musicals
The GS Arts Center will also collaborate with the Korean National Ballet on the Kylian Project in June, a triple bill of Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian's 'Forgotten Land,' 'Falling Angels' (Korean premiere) and Sechs Tanze."
In addition, the Seoul Jazz Festival will bring a theater edition to the venue, presenting jazz legends such as Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Marcus Gilmore in an intimate indoor setting.
Looking ahead to the fall season, the Broadway musical "The Great Gatsby" arrives in late July. The musical, which premiered last year and is set for London's West End in April, is produced by the Korean production company, OD Company. Additionally, the Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of "Life of Pi" will be staged in November.
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