Lim Hyeong-ju, who takes the stage as an authentic vocalist, "My starting point is classical music."

Yongsan Cultural Foundation Chairman Lim Hyeong-ju, famous as Korea's first 'popera vocalist', will appear on stage as a vocalist from the Baroque era of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Chairman Lim will appear as a collaborator in the Italian Mantua Chamber Orchestra's first performance in Korea held at the Yongsan Art Hall Grand Theater in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 20th, singing Vavilov's 'Ave Maria' and 'Let Us Cry' from Handel's opera 'Rinaldo'. These are all songs created during the Baroque era.

At a meeting held at the Yongsan Cultural Foundation on the 9th, Chairman Lim, who is returning to the formal vocal stage for the first time in a long time, said, "I felt like I was back as a student again."

He said, "As my starting point was traditional classical music, I have been working as a pop tenor for nearly 30 years, but this performance has special meaning to me," and added, "I will properly present the baroque vocal repertoire that I have been obsessed with as a vocalist for a long time to classical fans."

In this performance, Chairman Lim is determined to embody the sentiment of 'authentic baroque music' on stage in a way that is different from the popular popera.

He explained, “After confirming the performance, I must have sung each song more than 100 times in the past few months,” and added, “Usually, when traditional vocalists perform popera, they call it an extramarital affair and going out, but this time, on the contrary, it is a performance where I, a poppera tenor, am extramarital.”

Chairman Lim also introduced a special story about ‘Ave Maria’, which will be sung in this performance. He said, “The song I sang at the funeral mass for the late Choi Bul-am, whom I considered my uncle, was ‘Ave Maria.’ As a professional who has sung this song dozens of times, I want to sing it perfectly (at this performance).”

He did not hide his expectations for the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, which would perform with him. The Mantua Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra that was founded in Mantua, northern Italy in 1981 and has performed on major stages around the world, including Europe, the United States, Central and South America, North Africa, and Asia, for 45 years.

Chairman Lim said, "It is a chamber orchestra that is not well-known in Korea, but it is a very 'hot' chamber orchestra in Europe. It is very meaningful and honorable to be a collaborator in the first performance in Korea of ​​the world-class Mantua Chamber Orchestra."

He also predicted that this performance would be his last performance as an authentic vocalist. Chairman Lim said, “I am the type of person who cannot stand being nervous, so I only want to do baroque music on special occasions like this one. That is why I want to do a really good job so that this performance will be engraved in my mind as a beautiful memory.”

Chairman Lim, who debuted in 1998 and will celebrate his 30th anniversary next year, also expressed his wish to focus on discovering and nurturing juniors in the future.

He said, "I probably won't have the 40th or 50th anniversary of my debut in my life. So from now on, I want to play a role in discovering local artists and giving new and hungry artists a chance to become independent. My talent is not just mine, so I will show my best as long as I can."