On the 15th at 2pm, 56 people dressed in black formal attire stood on stage at Seoul’s Arts Center Concert Hall located in Seochogu, Seoul. Most of the members were looking around in which they looked distracted. However once the instructor made a huge hand gesture, they grabbed their instruments and concentrated on the baton. The distracted stage changed into a calm atmosphere through playing Edward Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’.
Heart Heart Orchestra, consisting of developmentally disabled youth and adults stood on the Seoul Arts Center stage. The members performed at the ‘Heart Heart Concert for the Improvement for Recognition of Disabilities’ sponsored by the social welfare corporation called Heart Heart Foundation and the Seoul Arts Center for an hour and a half. This is the first time that a disabled ensemble performed at the Arts Center separately. The Heart Heart Orchestra is consisted of developmentally disabled people ranging from the ages 12 to 30. The Orchestra started from having 6 members in 2006, but now after 7 years, the number has grown almost 10 times bigger. They were even recognized for their skills by performing at the PyeongChang Special Olympics Opening Ceremony last February and also in other events.
Compared to normal people, it is not an easy task trying to accomplish a classical performance in 90 minutes for developmentally disabled people who have a hard time concentrating. During the performance, there were sporadic incidences such as the members would twist their bodies left and right while waiting, or they would praise the crowd by giving them a thumbs-up.
However at the moment of performing music, just like any normal orchestra, they showed good concentration skills and abilites. This day, the Orchestra performed Sibelius’s ‘Finlandia’, theme song of the movie ‘Forest Gump’ and ten other musical pieces. When flutist Donggyun Kim (21 years old, Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 2) and Youngsu Lee (26 years old, Intellectual Disability Level 2) who are currently attending Korea National University of Arts performed Cesar Franc’s ‘PanisAngelicus’ the crowd applauded with admiration.
Baritone singer DongGyu Kim (47 years old) also performed along with the members to Georges Bizet’s ‘Toreador song’. Kim said, “With numerous amounts of practice the members memorized the musical motif through their bodies.” Also he said, “These people are angels who made the impossible possible.”
For the Heart Heart Orchestra, performing at The Arts Center was a dream stage. Such stage that is hard to accomplish for musicians in general - became a barrier for them. However an opportunity came for them to be a guest performer at the ‘Recital for the Rooting of the Opening of PyeongChang Special Olympics’ last October at The Arts Center. Huieun Kim, the vice-president of the Heart Heart Orchestra said, “At the concert, representatives of The Arts Center who were observing carefully at the members’ performance proposed that they have a concert of their own. Such performance is made from getting experience from performing over 20 times domestically and overseas.”
For this concert, 1500 seats out of 2500 were paid. Vice-president Huieun Kim said, “Most disabled concerts are free, however to change the perspective about the disabled and as the foundation of self-reliance for the members we decided to make the performance paid. The tickets were sold out in two weeks!” The remaining 1000 seats were filled up with neglected and disabled children who were invited.
SoonJaJeon (41 years old) mother of YongyeonYoo (16 years old, Intellectual Disability Level 1), a member of the orchestra said, “I am proud that Yongyeon got to stand on stage where musicians dream to stand on. I hope that through this performance, people will change their perspective on how they view the disabled.”
