Giacomo Puccini’s masterful tale of tragic love, “La Boheme” will kick off this year’s 14th annual Daegu International Opera Festival.

This year’s opera festival, taking place Oct. 16 to Nov. 5 at the Daegu Opera House in North Gyeongsang Province, will feature the timeless works of Beethoven, Georges Bizet and Christoph Willibald Gluck.

Highlights this year include “Fidelio,” a Korea-Germany joint production, “Orfeo ed Euridice,” “Tosca” and the finale program “Carmen,” looking to continue to expand the local opera fan base by offering a mix of classic favorites and productions rarely seen on the Korean stage. 


“In its 14-year history, the festival has presented 81 productions for 466,414 spectators with ticket sales averaging around 85 percent. Only about ten percent of the tickets are given out as free invitational seats so we are seeing a significant spike in the demand for opera in this country,” said Park Myung-ki, general artistic director of the Daegu Opera House, during a press conference held at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday.

“I like to look at our country’s opera culture like sports. In the ‘70s, soccer had virtually no following here because there were not many ways for people to see a game. But now with the popularity of the World Cup and the many, many sports stadiums we have in Korea, sports have amassed a huge following,” said Park. “I think if we continue to expose people to more opera, and continue to provide them with a means to see these great musical productions, this country will continue to grow more opera fans.”

In the same spirit of making opera more celebrated in Korea and to assist Korean opera singers in gaining international recognition, the Daegu Opera House has joined hands with Germany’s Theater Bonn in a collaborative performance of “Madama Butterfly” last June in Bonn.


Returning the musical exchange, the two opera houses will once again perform together on the Daegu stage.

The Daegu Opera House and Theater Bonn are slated to perform their latest joint production, “Fidelio,” the only opera ever composed by Beethoven, on Oct. 13 and 15.

Ticket prices for all the main highlighted productions range from 10,000 won to 100,000 won. For more information on scheduling and other concert events, visit www.daeguoperahouse.org or call (053) 666-6024.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)