[Perform-Talk] A Symphony Orchestra At a School for the Blind in Korea

[Ella Yu]

Hey everyone,

Since I am the google research nerd I am, I just found out that a school
for the blind in Korea has a wonderful symphonic orchestra made up of all
blind/visually impaired musicians. Large ensembles consisting entirely of
blind and visually impaired musicians are really interesting, especially if
it's a symphony orchestra. (I may be a bit biased because I play
violin/viola in a symphonic orchestra myself). As you may or may not
remember, I discovered an all-blind symphonic orchestra located in Egypt a
few months ago called the AL Nour Wal Amal Orchestra, and I posted my
findings on them to this group. Now, I think I have found another.

This orchestra is located at the Hanbit School for the Blind in South
Korea. The school's performing arts division was founded in 2003 to give
blind artists more and better opportunities, and the orchestra was created
in 2011. The school seems to have lots of other ensembles as well.
Unfortunately, I cannot find a lot of details about the Hanbit school
orchestra or its programing in general, so I am having to guess and infer
some things from the sources I am able to locate. A big part of it is that
a lot of information about the Hanbit school is in Korean, and content
about them in English is sparse. However, here is a short video about them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH6T9sprLZY

Here's a performance they did of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite in 2023 at
their 20th anniversary celebration concert. Their playing is pretty
incredible, I'd say it's comparable to that of a very advanced youth
orchestra or a mid to high level university symphony comprised of mostly
music majors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDmfA69IbEk

Here is a news story on violinist Jisun Kim, who was with the orchestra
from 2011-2014 as concertmaster.
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200730000330

And here's another more recent interview with her, where she goes into more
depth about her life and career as a blind violinist. I believe she is now
pursuing a graduate degree at the Manhattan School of Music, which is an
incredible achievement.
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/dragon-icons-lacma-party-2024

And to top it all off, here is Jisun Kim performing Sarasate's Carmen
Fantasy, which is a highly virtuosic work for violin. She plays incredibly
well.
https://www.thestrad.com/video/happy-lunar-new-year-jisun-kim-performs-carmen-fantasy/14391.article

Here is a concert recording of a piano trio consisting of students/alumni
of the Hanbit School. The concert took place in 2023 at the Kaufmann Music
Center in New York, and is done in collaboration with the New Jersey Youth
Symphony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfTYIjLSo8I
And here is a link to the concert description.
https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/darkness-to-light-hanbit-trio-j-with-new-jersey-youth-symphony/

Here is the Hanbit Performing Arts YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@HanbitArts

It is so wonderful to see blind and visually impaired musicians playing
classical music at the professional and pre-professional level, especially
on orchestral instruments. I myself chose not to pursue a career in music
even though I wanted to for most of my childhood, but these musicians are
an inspiration to me.