Experience Korean Tradition: 100 Musicians Unite at Changdeokgung Palace Music Festival 2026

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On early summer evenings, the hush of an ancient palace gives way to the resonant tones of traditional Korean music. The National Heritage Agency’s Palace and Tombs Heritage Headquarters is hosting—and the National Heritage Promotion Institute is producing—the 2026 palace concert “100-Person Taepyeongjiak,” running May 1–3 at Injeongjeon Hall in Changdeokgung.

The venue itself adds weight to the program. Injeongjeon Hall, the Joseon court’s principal ceremonial throne and a UNESCO World Heritage site, will host the palace concert for the first time. Organizers say the quiet nightscape and the palace’s architecture will create a layered, immersive setting that deepens listeners’ experience of the music.

True to its name, 100-Person Taepyeongjiak is a large-scale project that brings together 100 gugak musicians on a single stage. Faculty, students and alumni from Ewha Womans University’s Department of Korean Music will perform, offering cross-generational collaborations. Eun-A Kwak, dean of Ewha’s College of Music, serves as artistic director, while Professors Hyoju Kang and Youngheon Kim handle musical programming and direction.

The program opens with the court-music classic Sujecheon and moves through works such as Cheonnyeonmanse, the sheng-and-xiao duet Suryong-eum, the female vocal Taepyeongga, a Hyeongeum sanjo from the Hangap-deuk tradition, the gayageum composition Sound of the Night, and an Arirang suite. Court music, folk repertoire, sanjo, contemporary gugak and solo and ensemble pieces intersect to present a broad spectrum of Korean music on a single stage.

The program also highlights the subtle expressiveness of its women performers. Organizers expect Taepyeongga and Sound of the Night to lend a soft, elegant counterpoint to Injeongjeon’s stately space.

The concert closes with Bonjo Arirang. In a participatory finale, the 100 performers will invite the audience to join in song, creating a shared, lingering moment.

“This is a program that channels a wish for a peaceful era into music,” music director Hyoju Kang said. “Gugak at Changdeokgung in May will offer a distinct emotional experience where space and sound blend.”

She added that the repertoire—anchored by pieces like emeritus professor Hwang Byung-ki’s gayageum composition Sound of the Night—was chosen to bridge tradition and modernity and showcase the diversity of Korean music.

By combining traditional dignity with a contemporary sensibility, this palace concert aims to inscribe a new depth of Korean music onto the palace’s living history.

News Culture’s M.J._mj94070777@nc.press