[Features]
The House Concert
The House Rings with Sound, and the Heart Rings with Culture:

Culture Editor Choi Ran-hee
Reporters Choi Jin-shil

“Music is not something we listen to only with our ears. It is also something we feel. Sounds come up to my body through the floor,” Park Chang-soo said. That is the biggest attraction of a house concert. Every Friday night, small audiences enjoy special performances in an intimate environment. After the performance is over, the audience can speak with the musician during a wine party.

Hansung Today met Park Chang-soo, a famous composer and pianist, who teaches the class of The Appreciation of Music at Hansung University. He is the first musician who has ever conceived the idea of the house concert in Korea. He has been opening this music event since 2002. Over 500 musicians and 10,000 audiences have made this concert possible. The invited musicians include Kang San-eh, Kim Sun-uk, Kwon Hyuk-joo, and BARD.

Q1. The house concert sounds unfamiliar to many Koreans. What is it?
A1. The house concert has its origin in the salon music gatherings of the 16~17th century Europe where aristocrats invited talented musicians to their houses to entertain themselves. These social meetings of music developed into the house concert. In the house concert, every audience is equal. There are no R, S, A and B seats. “Do you want a good seat? Come early. If you are lucky to seat in front, you can even hear the breathing of the musicians.

Q2. What made you start this concert?
A2. This idea came to me in my high school years when I visited various places with friends to practice playing the piano. I always dreamed of a concert in which people would enjoy music in a cozy atmosphere. I started my house concert to provide audiences with an extraordinary experience.

Q3. What do you think is the most attractive part of the house concert?
A3. Audiences appreciate music on the floor, not sitting on the chair. Music comes up to your body through the floor. Feeling this vibration is the most amazing part of the house concert.

Q4. How do you cast musicians?
A4. It was very difficult to cast musicians at first. Audiences and guests seemed to feel uncomfortable with the intimacy of the home atmosphere. Also, not many musicians were not interested in this project. But as the concert gained more and more popularity, musicians began to contact me. So, we are all booked up until 2012.

Q5. Today there are quite many house concerts. How do you feel about this phenomenon?
A5. That is what I have expected from the beginning. But now I am a little concerned about its proliferation as a way of getting money. This is very undesirable. The emotional communication through music is what the house concert is all about.

Q6. Any difficulties in holding a house concert?
A6. Ironically, there is a financial problem. I lost about 10,000,000won during the first year. Things are getting better as people are getting enlightened. We are being supported by Funding for the Arts and Culture. I am happy to see that the cultural value of the house concert has been gradually acknowledged.

Q7. You must be proud of your house concert?
A7. We do not beg for the presence of our close friends or relatives like they do for their concerts in a place like Seoul Arts Center. Our audiences come to the concert voluntarily. In fact, musicians tend to feel more or less awkward when they have to perform at a house concert because of their physical closeness to the audience. Yet, I am glad to know that those who are really mad for music come to my house concert. Music bonds musicians and audiences together in happiness.

Sitting on the floor with musician, the audience can hear musicians’ lightest breathing. The thunderous applause does not die away for some time even after the performance is ended. And then comes a talk with the musicians over some refreshments. Sometimes, the musicians improvises a music on the spot. All you need to do in the house concert is to enjoy yourself. Feel every fiber of your body vibrating in the house concert.