Rainbow Choir to perform in Australia

Published on 2012/02/22 | Source

The Rainbow Choir, composed of 35 children from multicultural families in Korea, will give performances in Australia this month.

The Rainbow Choir, a Korean children's choir representing the Center for Multi-Cultural Korea, will visit Sydney, Australia from Feb. 23 to 28. They will be performing at several locations there including Campsie Public School, JongBopsa Temple and Lindfield Korean School.

For this tour the ensemble will consist of 15 children, accompanied by four teachers and tour organizer, Shim Eui-boon. Two Korean media representatives will travel with the group. A reporter from MK business newspaper, Im Yeung-shin and a producer of MBC TV, Kim Kyung-seok, will document the group's activities and experiences during their visit.

About Rainbow Choir

The Rainbow Choir comprises of 35 Korean children (boys and girls) from multicultural families, representing over 10 countries, living in Seoul. They are aged between 7 and 13 and have been selected from several schools across Seoul and the surrounding areas.

The choir was established in July 2009 with the objective of motivating and empathizing with multicultural children and implanting a sense of belonging

It has achieved a high standard of professionalism in a very short time and the children have been invited to perform at many official events and memorial concerts in Seoul, several of which were attended by the Korean president and the first lady.

In 2009 the choir performed at the KBS Concert of Sharing Love, SBS Concert of Sharing Love, UNICEF Love3Concert, Memorial Concert of Establishment and New Year's Eve festival in Seoul.

Since then the group has also performed at a national contest of multicultural children choirs, the general assembly of the Asia-Pacific league for freedom and democracy, a reception party for Diplomatic Corps in Blue House and a G20 dinner party.

Last year's activities included a dinner party after Korea-Iraq summit talks at the Blue House, a concert at the IIC ministers' conference, a concert for hosting the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, an ASC 2011 welcome dinner, a dinner for the East Asian's talented children attended by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a concert to commemorate Korea's Independence Day.

The purpose of the visit to Australia is to introduce The Rainbow Choir internationally and learn respect and understanding of one another's cultures. It traveled to China in 2010.

The choir is scheduled to perform at the Lindfield Korean School on Feb. 25, JongBopsa Temple on Feb. 26 and Campsie Public School on Feb. 27.

Ms Lee Hyun-jung, director of the Rainbow Choir, selected the performance venues because Korean language and multicultural programs form part of their curriculum. Lee also hopes that the children will form lasting friendships with Korean children living in Australia and Australian students who can speak Korean and are interested in Korean culture.

The children will have a chance to experience outback Australia when visiting Tobruk sheep station, and cultural Australia during a special guided tour of the Australian National Gallery and Sydney Opera House, as well as visiting popular landmarks like Bondi Beach, Watson's Bay and Darling Harbor.

The Rainbow Choir tour is being sponsored by KT Corporation (formerly Korea Telecom), one of Korea's largest telecommunications companies.

By John Redmond