From musicals to Maroon 5, these are Korea's shows for March

Yang In-mo & Festival Strings Lucerne | Maroon 5 | Les Miserables | King Lear | Seventeen Tour 'Follow' Again to Incheon

YANG IN-MO & FESTIVAL STRINGS LUCERNE Lotte Concert Hall

Violinist Yang In-mo [Kumho Cultural Art Foundation]

March 8:Violinist Yang In-mo, who became the first Korean to win the first place prize at the prestigious XII International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, Finland, in 2022, will be performing together with the Festival Strings Lucerne. The orchestra from Switzerland gathers together under Artistic Director Daniel Dodds. The upcoming concert will be Festival Strings Lucerne’s first performance at Lotte Concert Hall.

The violinist and the orchestra will perform Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 ‘Symphonie Classique,’” Vieuxtempts’ “Violin Concerto No. 5 in a minor, Op. 37,” Dubugnon’s “Caprice IV for orchestra ‘Es muss sein’” and Mozart’s “Symphony No. 41 in c major, K. 551 ‘Jupiter.’”

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets range from 60,000 won ($45) to 200,000 won.

Jamsil Station, line No. 2, exit 1 or 2

MAROON 5 Inspire ArenaMarch 8 and 9: Maroon 5 will come to Korea for a two-day performance at Inspire Arena, located on Yeongjong Island in Incheon, to celebrate Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort’s grand opening. The Grammy award-winning band has frequently visited Korea to perform. It held concerts in Seoul in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2015, and its last visit was in November 2022.

Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort opened its five-star hotel, state-of-the-art Inspire Arena, restaurants and entertainment street “Aurora” to visitors on Nov. 30 last year, and its foreigner-only Inspire Casino, Korea’s largest casino to date. The resort is also offering a package deal that includes two tickets to the concert and a night stay at the Inspire Entertainment Resort. Tickets for this package deal range from 1.1 million won to 2.2 million won, depending on the room type.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets range from 77,000 won to 242,000 won.

The resort’s shuttle bus will operate from the Incheon International Airport Cargo Terminal Station on the airport railroad AREX, exit 2, to the Inspire Arena from five hours prior to the concert.

LES MISÉRABLESBlue Square, Shinhan Card HallThrough March 10:The Korean production of the masterpiece musical “Les Misérables” is being staged at the Blue Square in central Seoul. The show is based on the French novel set in 1832 and follows the life of Jean Valjean, who is sentenced to 10 years behind bars for stealing a loaf of bread.

The main protagonist Jean Valjean is played alternately by Min Woo-hyuk and Choi Jae-rim.

Kim Woo-hyung and Kai have been cast as Inspector Javert, an uncompromising police officer who has been hunting down Jean Valjean for decades. Kim is also a familiar face of “Les Misérables,” having played Enjolras in the 2013 production of “Les Misérables” and Javert in the 2015 production. His recent roles include Radames in “Aida” and Hades in “Hadestown.”

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays; and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. There are no shows on Mondays.

Tickets are priced from 90,000 won to 180,000 won.

Hangangjin Station, line No. 6, exit 2 or 3

KING LEARNational Theater of Korea, Daloreum Theater

The National Changgeuk Company's "King Lear" will be staged at the National Theater of Korea from March 29. [NATIONAL THEATER OF KOREA]

March 29 - April 7: The National Changgeuk Company is staging “King Lear,” a traditional Korean opera version of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

The famous tale of “King Lear” was recreated as a traditional Korean opera changgeuk. It was written by playwright Bae Sam-sik, who also wrote “Trojan Women” for the company. The tragic life of a human being depicted in Shakespeare’s original story is woven together with the teachings of Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, particularly through his comparisons of life and water.

Using Bae’s storyline, pansori (traditional Korean narrative singing) composer Han Seung-seok composed the lyrics for the singers while the music is written by Jung Jae-il. Han said he concentrated on creating sounds that contain hatred, madness and ruins and used some parts of Gyeonggi minyo, or folk songs from Gyeonggi region, to create them. Jung said he combined the sounds from Korean traditional and Western instruments using virtual musical instrument software to create a new kind of sound.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and at 3 p.m. on weekends. There are no shows on Mondays.

Tickets range from 20,000 won to 50,000 won.

Dongguk University Station, line No. 3, exit 6

SEVENTEEN TOUR "FOLLOW” AGAIN TO INCHEONIncheon Asiad Main Stadium

Boy band Seventeen performs during its concert last July in Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

March 30 and 31: Boy band Seventeen is holding a two-day concert in Incheon.

The upcoming concerts are an encore of its "Follow” world tour in a new series titled "'Follow' Again."

Seventeen's EP "FML" made it to No. 1 on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) Global Album Chart for 2023, which was released on Feb. 28. "Super,” the lead track of "FML,” also sold over 6.29 million copies since its release in April of last year, becoming the only K-pop artist to sell over 3 million copies of an album on the day of its release.

Seventeen debuted in 2015 under Pledis Entertainment, one of HYBE's labels. It has 13 members: S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The 8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino. The band is known for hit songs such as "Very Nice," "Clap," "Super" and “God of Music.”

Tickets for fan club members went on sale on Wednesday. Regular ticket sales begins Friday. Tickets range from 132,000 won to 198,000 won.

The concert begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday and at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Asiad Stadium Station, line No. 2 of the Incheon Subway, exit 4

*Most tickets are available at ticket.interpark.com/global or by calling 1544-1555

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]