TUE 22 JULY 8 PM
KURESSAARE CASTLE OPERA HALL
Sim Tjong by Isang Yun was commissioned by Germany for the opening ceremony of the 1972 Olympics in Munich. This opera, performed with Western instruments, is particularly notable for its impressive blend of traditional Korean folk tale and contemporary music.
It was premiered that year at the Bayerische Staatsoper and received high praise for “expressing the mysterious spiritual world of the East with profound sound and meticulous design”.
The opera Sim Tjong is a captivating and moving story of love, sacrifice, and a miraculous rebirth. The opera’s libretto is based on a Korean fairy tale about a young girl, Sim Tjong, whose life is filled with devotion to her blind father.
Sim Tjong grows up in poverty, caring for her blind father. One day, a monk predicts that her father will regain his eyesight if she donates 300 bags of rice. It is the beginning of Sim Tjong’s challenging journey. Sim Tjong decides to sacrifice herself to the Dragon King and jumps into the sea.
She wakes up inside the Dragon King’s palace, worrying about her father and looks for a way to return to the mortal world. Celestial forces come to her aid and decide that Sim Tjong deserves a second chance – she is allowed to return to the world of the living. In the darkness of the night, amidst a stormy sea, she is reborn from a beautiful lotus flower. The King, struck by the girl’s beauty and mysterious appearance, falls in love with her and asks Sim Tjong to marry him.
Sim Tjong sets a condition for the King, as she needs to see her father before the wedding. Sim Tjong meets her father and realizes that he lives in poverty, alone and unhappy. Thanks to the daughter’s love and magic, her father’s eyes are healed. The opera ends with a royal wedding and Sim Tjong becomes an empress. The monk’s prophecy is fulfilled – Sim Tjong brought light to the world.
