The Emperor Listens to Heemoon
Premiering in July 2010, this performance was part of the Gyeonggi Sori project series that shed new light on the 100-year history of “Gyeonggi Sori,” traditional folk music from the central province around Seoul, using Park Chun-jae as it's motif, who was a Gyeonggi Sori master and favored by Emperor Gojong. The concept of the performance is that Lee Hee-moon models himself as Park, the special director for entertainment for Gojong, and performs at a court banquet where the audience stands in as Emperor Gojong. It has been lauded as upholding well the spirit of “building on the old to create something new that still honors the fundamentals.”