The representative program of the Jeonju World Sound Festival and the competitive showcase 'Sound Frontier', where the final winner 'Our Music Group Soeok' was selected as the 1st place, will embark on a European invitation performance starting from the 9th.

This sound festival was selected as a traditional genre representative festival for this year's 'Genre-specific Market Hub Support Project' organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Arts Management Support Center, and as a result, the 2025 Sound Frontier was launched as part of the performance art distribution support project 'Sound Next'. This is the first case that connects domestic competitions during the sound festival period to overseas stages, adding significance as a creator support model.

Started in 2010, the Sound Frontier is celebrating its 15th edition this year and has discovered a total of 43 teams so far. The selected teams have been introduced to major overseas stages such as the Malaysia 'Penang Jazz Festival' and Japan's 'Skiyaqui Mits The World', expanding the platform for discovering new artists and international exchanges.

This year's Sound Frontier started with a public recruitment in June, followed by a July preliminary performance evaluation, a 2-night 3-day residency workshop 'Super Week', and the final competition. During the residency process, there were special lectures by domestic and international music market experts, feedback on stage strategies for each team, mentoring sessions, providing an opportunity to enhance creative capabilities beyond a simple competition.

The final evaluation included top-notch domestic and international experts such as Cheon Jae-hyun, Sound Frontier Artistic Director, Gye Myeong-guk, Director of the Jarasum Jazz Festival, Lee Su-jeong, Artistic Director of the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival, Vanessa Chen (National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Taiwan), Rachel Cooper (Asia Society), Claudia Balladelli (Canada's Ash World Fest), enhancing the fairness, expertise, and international credibility of the evaluation. They evaluated that Soeok has achieved a level of completion that can resonate well on the international stage while expanding traditional-based music in a modern way, leading to their final victory.

The selected Soeok will perform starting from the 9th at the 'Sejong Hakdang Opening Commemorative Korean Culture Festival' in Miskolc, Hungary, followed by an official invitation performance at the Blagoevgrad City Hall in Bulgaria on the 11th, and a stage invitation at the Plovdiv National Art Institute Concert Hall on the 13th.

This performance is an official event hosted by each city and major institution, with the Sejong Hakdang opening performance holding significant meaning related to the spread of Korean culture in Hungary, the Blagoevgrad performance being directly hosted by the city hall and featuring a welcoming stage by the local representative art group, the Pirin Ensemble, further enhancing the exchange. Additionally, the Plovdiv performance is jointly hosted by 'Sofia Music Week' and the National Art Institute, and notably, in this tour, the Korean traditional instrument, Ajaeng, will be introduced for the first time in Bulgaria.

During this stage, Soeok will present major creative repertoires such as 'Between Trees', 'Butterfly Dance', 'Soeok Style', 'Sea', 'Garden of Stars', 'Sunrise', 'Moonlight', etc. Works that preserve the essence of tradition while incorporating new sensibilities will be introduced to European audiences, showcasing the potential of Korean creative music through collaborations with local musicians.

Kim Hee-sun, Executive Director of the Sound Festival, stated, "Sound Frontier is a creator support model that goes beyond a simple competition program, encompassing recruitment, mentoring, final stage, and overseas expansion," and emphasized, "The official introduction of Korean creative music in major venues such as Sejong Hakdang, city halls, and the National Art Institute is a significant achievement."