2022 AOA Awards go to Soprano Lee Kyung-Sook, 17 other cultural artists

By Seok-Jae Kang,
Asia Journalists Association Vice President 

SEOUL: Korean soprano Lee Kyung-sook and 17 other cultural artists and organizations have been honored with the 2022 AOA Awards for their outstanding contribution to the promotion of Korean culture and art.

Sop. Lee Kyung-sook, who serves as chairperson of the Seoul Art Song Association (SASA), received the inaugural AOA (Ace of Ars) Award in the organization category of “best leader ace” for her prominent role in promoting Korean classical music, known as “gagok” or Korean art song.

The awarding ceremony was held at the My Art Museum in southern Seoul, Korea on January 31, 2023. A 31-member screening committee selected eight individual cultural artists and 10 cultural and art organizations.

Among other winners of the 2022 AOA awards was Korean actor Lee Soon-jae, who has had a prolific career on the small and big screen spanning over six decades.

The winners were chosen among Korean cultural artists and organizations, which had shown prominent achievements during the year 2022.

Since 2013, SASA Chairperson Lee has organized about 30 music festivals under the title “Seoul Art Music Festival,” three times per year, thus greatly helping contribute to the promotion of Korean gagok at home and abroad. The festivals have been held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and other concert halls in downtown Seoul.

The first Seoul Art Music Festival dates back to November 2013, when Sop. Lee organized the gagok concert featuring songs mostly composed by Korean prominent composer Lee An-sam.

Chairperson Lee also organized gagok festivals in Russia, France, Taiwan and Indonesia. During the global pandemic times, she has organized a total of 27 one-hour-long online gagok concerts for the promotion of Korean gagok.

Since 2019, she has offered scholarships to promising university students with gagok talents. She plans to organize the so-called “Youth Gagok Clapop Festival” on March 29, 2023 at the Youngsan Art Hall in Seoul, with the participation of those scholarship recipients.

Over the past several years, GCS International, a U.N.-affiliated, Seoul-headquartered global NGO, was one of the sponsors for the Seoul Art Music Festival.

“The more Korean TVs and other media cover the Korean classical music, the faster the Korean gagok will be globalized,” said SASA Chairperson Lee after receiving the award.