EVENTS CALENDAR

Drama

"Rosel": The fourth installment in the "Actresses Series" will run through Nov. 13 at Woolim Cheongdam Theater in southern Seoul, with veteran actress Kim Ji-sook in the title role. The monodrama, originally written in 1987 by German playwright Harald Muller, throws questions about what makes up a woman`s life in the male-oriented society. Tickets are 30,000 won and 50,000 won. For more information, call 1588-7890 or visit http://wl.pmcproduction.co.kr.

"Stones in His Pockets": A comedy featuring two actors who grapple with their troubled life will run through Oct. 30 at Dongsoong Art Center in Seoul. Tickets range from 15,000 won to 25,000 won. For further information, call 1588-7890 or visit www.idsartcenter.co.kr.

"Talking With": First performed at the U.S. Humana Drama Festival, 11 monologues by Jane Martin features 11 different actresses and their unique episodes. The play will run from Sept. 9 through Oct. 30 at Sangsang Nanum Theater in Seoul. Tickets are priced from 12,000 won to 30,000 won. For further information, call (02) 745-2124.

"Miracle": A comic fantasy about the human rights of people in a coma will run through Dec. 31 at Miracle Theater in Seoul. Tickets are 10,000 won and 20,000 won. For further information, call (02) 742-7261.

"Equus": Peter Shaffer`s 1974 Tony Award-winning play "Equus" is back. The play will run from Sept. 9 through Oct. 30 at Hakjeon Blue Small Theater in Seoul. Tickets are 12,000 won to 30,000 won. For further information, call (02) 766-2124.

Concerts

Gilbert Kaplan & KBS Symphony`s Mahler Symphony No. 2: Gilbert Kaplan, one of the foremost interpreters of Mahler`s Second Symphony "Resurrection" will lead the KBS Symphony Orchestra at the newly opening Seongnam Arts Center in the city of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 15. The founder and former publisher of Institutional Investor, a multiple award-winning U.S. financial magazine with an estimated readership of more than 150,000 in 140 countries, Kaplan had never heard of any of Mahler`s music, until he attended the concert of the American Symphony Orchestra led by maestro Leopold Stokowsky at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1965. The first encounter with the Austrian composer, however, moved him so much that he hired an instructor from the Julliard School of Music to teach him how to direct Mahler`s Second Symphony in 1981. He made his conductor`s debut the following year with the American Symphony Orchestra the following year. In 1996, Kaplan became the first amateur conductor invited to perform at the prestigious Salzburg Festival, where he led the opening night concert. Time magazine reported that the event was "a triumph that shook the Grosses Festspielhaus to its granite foundations." Tickets are 10,000 to 40,000 won. For more information, call (031) 729-5615. Exit No. 1, Imae Station on Bundang Subway Line.

Opera "Nabucco": The National Opera Company of Korea presents opera "Nabucco" at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center until Oct.9. Written by Verdi in 1841, "Nabucco," the third opera of the composer, was the opera that won him worldwide fame. Based upon the Biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar`s (Nabucco in Italian) enslavement of the Hebrews, the opera in four acts is filled with one great, energy-filled melody after another. Among them, "Va pensiero" has become the unofficial anthem of Italy, almost from the time the opera was first performed in 1842, which has made it a fixed encore repertoire at the end of every single "Nabucco" performance in the country. With the National Opera Chorus, Uijeongbu City Choir and Seoul Philharmonic Opera Choir on the chorus, Baritone Boris Statsenko will share the role of the Assyrian king with Kim Seoung-chuel, while soprano Adrienne Dugger and Lee Hwa-young will perform the role of Abigaille, Nabucco`s evil daughter and the narrator of the show. Tickets are 30,000-200,000 won. For more information, call (02) 586-5282. Exit No. 5, Nambu Bus Terminal Station on Subway Line No. 5.

Pop Concerts

Nana Mouskouri Live in Korea: Nana Mouskouri the legendary Greek goddess of song, will give her first and last concert in the country at the Olympic Hall tonight. Earlier this year, the 71-year-old Greek has declared that she would retire this year after this farewell world tour, which started in Europe in April. After the concert, the tour will go on in Oceania and North America. For Korean fans, she will present such familiar songs as "Try to Remember" and "Over and Over." Born in 1934 as Ioanna Mouskouri (Nana, a nickname given to her early on) in Crete, she studied at the Athens Academy of Music only to be expelled in 1957 after the school discovered she was singing in jazz clubs at night. In 1961 she scored her first hit "The White Rose of Athens" and since then has produced albums steadily into the new millennium. She has recorded well over 1,300 songs in all the major languages of Europe and released more than 450 albums. According to Universal Music, Mouskouri`s current label, more than 300 million discs have been sold worldwide. Her Seoul performances will be followed by a concert in Daegu on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. and Busan on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. Ticket prices range from 66,000 to 275,000 won. For further information, call (02) 539-0793. Exit No. 3, Olympic Park Station on Subway Line No. 5.

Musical

"Aida": A big-budget Disney musical features the heart-breaking love between Radames, the Captain of the Egyptian Army, and Aida, the daughter of the Nubian King, with the Egyptian princess Amneris telling the story. It runs at LG Arts Center in southern Seoul. Tickets are 40,000 won to 120,000 won. For ticket reservations, call (02) 2005-0114, or visit www.musical-aida.co.kr.

"Bat Boy": A Korean version of the unorthodox Off-Broadway musical is now welcoming Korean audiences, posing questions about the meaning of being normal in a society that is unwilling to shed its selfish and exclusive tendency. The musical directed by Sam Vibrito runs at Seensee Musical Theater in Seoul. Tickets are 30,000 won to 40,000 won. For further information, call (02) 745-1987.

"Footloose": The musical shows the complex relationships between young and old people. It will run through Oct. 16 at Yonkang Hall in Seoul. Tickets range from 40,000 won to 60,000 won. For details, call (02) 766-8551 or go to www.yonkang.co.kr.

"2005 Funky Funky": A musical directed by comedian Geong Seong-han will run through Oct. 30 at Funky House in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul. Tickets are 20,000 won to 100,000 won. For more information, call (02) 1588-1089 or visit www.funkyfunky.co.kr.

"Subway Line 1, 2005": A tried-and-true rock musical by the Hakchon Theatre Troupe portrays a wide range of Seoulites in the 1990s runs at Hakchon Theater. Tickets range from 17,000 won to 28,000 won. For more information, call (02) 763-8233 or visit www.hakchon.co.kr.

Exhibitions

"Bus Stop": A solo exhibition by Yi Hwan-kwon runs through the end of October at the Sejong Center. Yi`s work consists of a series of stretched and thinned sculptures of people frozen in everyday poses that challenge our senses and perceptions. The figures raise questions about time, space, isolation and existence. Viewers only discover the figures are not flat by circling the sculptures and seeing how the images change with every degree of movement. Exit No.1 or No. 8, Gwanghwamun Station on Subway Line No. 5.

"Rice in Bloom": The photo exhibition featuring works by Bang Myung-joo runs from Oct. 12 to 24 at the Gallery Ssamzie`s Second Exhibition Hall located in the basement of Ssamziegil in Insa-dong, Seoul. The photographs capture not only the physicality of rice, but also captures its social and psychological connotations. Bang explores the meaning of rice as food, the scope of the family, the social implications of household chores, and the correlation between each part and the whole. For more information, call (02) 736-0088 or visit www.ssamziegil.co.kr. Exit No. 6, Anguk Station on Subway Line No. 3.

Events

Seoul Drum Festival 2005: Percussion groups from Korea and around the world perform through Oct. 10 at the Seoul Plaza and on a special stage at the Sejong Center, downtown Seoul. Twelve Korean teams and seven teams from six foreign countries, including the United States, France, Cuba and Sweden are participating in the festival, now in its seventh year. Performances at the Seoul Plaza take place at 8 p.m., Oct. 8 and 9. The Sejong Center performances start at 3 p.m., Oct. 8 and 9. For more information, visit www.drumfestival.org.