The program announcement event for the 2025 Jeonju World Sound Festival was held on the 17th at Jeonju's White Sheep House.

On this day, the organizing committee (headed by Lee Wong-jun, hereinafter referred to as the Sound Festival) announced their plans to highlight the role of the festival in the world as a representative performing arts festival of Jeollabuk-do and Korea with the keyword for this year's festival being 'Echo of Hometown.'

This year's Sound Festival will take place from August 13th to 17th for five days at the Hall of Korean Sound Culture and various locations in Jeollabuk-do. The festival will feature a total of 57 programs including 69 performances, such as the highly anticipated opening performance , five traditional Pansori performances, Sanjo Night, international invited performances, domestic invited performances, and more.

■ 2025 Sound Festival's keyword of the year... Echo of Hometown
Following last year, this year's summer festival, the Sound Festival, emphasized its role in the world as a representative performing arts festival of Jeollabuk-do and Korea. The 2025 keyword, 'Echo of Hometown,' focused on the diasporic nature of music, highlighting music's migration, identity, genres imbued with nostalgia, artists, and modern reinterpretations. The festival aims to showcase a variety of music that can convey the diversity and artistic value of music while maintaining its roots over the five days.

■ Two years of preparation... First joint production with the National Theater


Forget the Shim Cheong you knew. A new interpretation of the classic Shim Cheong story from a completely different perspective will be presented on the opening stage of the 2025 Sound Festival.

In 2023, the National Theater and the Sound Festival signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the goal of mutual cooperation for the advancement of performing arts. Through mutual cooperation utilizing the expertise of the National Theater and the global network of the Sound Festival, they are jointly producing this work that can be globally recognized. The production features a stellar lineup of international directors including Yona Kim, a resident director at the Mannheim National Theater in Germany, and Herbert Muraour (stage design), Benjamin Lutke (video and live camera), Falk Bauer (costume design), Daniel Kiezevetter (assistant director), Reinhardt Traup (lighting design), Frank Schwenke (stage and costume assistant), among others.

Additionally, Han Seung-seok (Professor at Chung-Ang University) contributed to the script, and Choi Woo-jung (Professor at Seoul National University) participated in the composition for this production. The dialogue uses the traditional Pansori elements of 'Shim Cheongga' while adding a directorial interpretation, reinterpreting it as a Regietheater Pansori, known as . This opening work presents Shim Cheong as a character representing the socially disadvantaged, moving away from the Confucian values emphasizing filial piety, offering a completely different perspective. The production involves around 130 participants, including Kim Yul-hee, the actress selected through public auditions, and children from Jeollabuk-do.

Kim Hee-sun, the executive director, stated, "The production 'Shim Cheong,' jointly created by the National Theater, the Sound Festival, and international directors, will be a competitive work on the international stage," adding, "Through new attempts and diverse interpretations, audiences can experience a new Shim Cheong at the Sound Festival."

■ Special planned performances only available at the Sound Festival, including Pansori Five Masters
Audiences can enjoy the charm of traditional Korean music across generations, from national masters to the current top-tier performers and emerging star vocalists, in the signature performance 'Pansori Five Masters' at this year's festival. Performances such as , , , , and are anticipated.

The Sanjo performance, considered the pinnacle of traditional instrumental music, will feature profound performances by masters in , showcasing 'Lee Ji-young-style Gayageum Sanjo' and 'Jeonchusan-style Danso Sanjo' for an enriching experience.

Five young vocalists selected through nationwide blind auditions will present their individual stages at the Myeongin Hall, featuring , , , , and .

Unique performances like , , and will awaken the morning in Jeonju.

This year, the 'Vocal Ensemble' specially planned will offer a rare stage where audiences can enjoy , , , and , allowing a deep dive into traditional vocal music.

Reflecting the meaning of this year's keyword 'Echo of Hometown,' the 'Diaspora Focus' will showcase the diasporic nature of music, offering a journey through music from its roots to modern times in performances like and .

■ Domestic invited performances including the iconic songs of the band Beom Naeryeonda and the heroine of timeless classics, Song So-hee
The band 'Beom Naeryeonda,' an alternative pop band formed in 2019, and Song So-hee, the heroine of timeless classics blending traditional Korean music with contemporary music, will be part of the 2025 Sound Festival. Additionally, the lineup includes the Seodo Band, the winner of the first-ever Korean traditional music crossover competition , promising to liven up the hot summer festival scene.

■ Unique and diverse world music from 12 countries and 12 teams, including the master of Japanese Shō, Miyata Mayumi
Audiences at the Sound Festival can experience diverse and distinctive world music. This year, performances from various cultural regions such as North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia are expected in the international invited performances.

Firstly, Miyata Mayumi, the fourth winner of the Asia World Music Awards, will present a performance of traditional Japanese wind instrument Shō. Miyata Mayumi is a performer of the Shō, a wind instrument historically related to the traditional Korean instrument Saenghwang. With a background in Japanese court music Gagaku and the charm of Shō, she began a new musical journey in her mid-20s, collaborating with contemporary music composers such as John Cage and Toru Takemitsu, showcasing her unique color on the broad horizon of art. From Gagaku to contemporary Japanese composers' music, the performance will offer a rare opportunity to experience the charm of the Shō, a rare instrument.

Furthermore, as part of the 75th anniversary of the Korea-Spain diplomatic relations, the 'Spain Focus' and performances from 12 countries and 12 teams such as Brazil's , Canada's , and France's will be presented, offering a diverse range of performances.

■ Children's Sound Festival, Outreach Sound Festival, Sound Scholar Forum... A diverse range of events including a local participation closing performance
For children, there will be performances like by Koshi, where they can learn traditional Polish songs, and , where the audience can select and experience their own animals in a virtual space using their phones while enjoying traditional music. Events like the 'Outreach Sound Festival,' where local planners and artists directly engage with residents, and the 'Sound Scholar Forum,' connecting local and global creative platforms, will continue throughout the festival period.

The closing performance will be by Ahn Eun-mi Company, marking the grand finale of the festival. Ahn Eun-mi, a choreographer and dancer who has been in the global dance scene for over 30 years, has been recording and paying tribute to the movements of 'dancing grandmothers' she met nationwide since 2011.

As the festival will be held during the week of National Liberation Day on August 15th, commemorating the 80th anniversary of liberation, it will feature 15 'Liberation Children' (born in 1945) from Jeollabuk-do as the central figures, along with local seniors aged 70 and above, adding significance to the event.

Lee Wong-jun, the organizing committee chairman, expressed, "Many performances taking the stage at this year's Sound Festival, including the opening performance, have garnered significant interest from critics," adding, "We aim to make the Sound Festival not just a representative traditional arts festival of Korea but a platform for the exchange of global traditional arts."