'E.T.' orchestral performance in Korea canceled due to rain

An orchestral performance for the 40th anniversary of the 1982 science fiction film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," set to take place on Sunday at Mosan Airfield in Jecheon, North Chungcheong, was canceled due to rain. Jecheon International Music & ..

An orchestral performance for the 40th anniversary of the 1982 science fiction film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” that was set to take place on Aug. 14 at Mosan Airfield in Jecheon, North Chungcheong, is canceled due to rain. [YONHAP]

An orchestral performance for the 40th anniversary of the 1982 science fiction film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” set to take place on Sunday at Mosan Airfield in Jecheon, North Chungcheong, was canceled due to rain.

Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (Jimff) started the “film concert” around 8:50 p.m. on Sunday, 50 minutes later than planned. But as the weather worsened, the event was ultimately canceled about an hour later.

“Due to heavy rain that was not in the weather forecast, the rehearsal and concert started late,” officials of the festival said. “We went on with the concert as the rain seemed to subside, but we eventually decided to cancel the event as the heavy rain continued.”

Audience members who were waiting for the concert in the pouring rain cheered loudly when the concert started, but were only able to enjoy half of the scheduled concert.

The orchestral concert was supposed to be one of the highlights of Jimff. The festival purchased performance rights from Universal Studios and set up a special stage at Mosan Airfield. An 80-person orchestra was slated to perform the original soundtrack simultaneously with the film’s screening.

This year’s Jimff started on Aug. 11 but has been experiencing difficulties due to the heavy rainstorms that have been pounding Korea’s central region.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]