A single ray of light enters the seemingly cold, exposed concrete site; though the space is entirely gray, it somehow feels healing. “Tadao Ando,” hailed as the father of modern architecture and considered the most famous foreign architect in Korea. Standing before his work, I am always filled with a sense of humility.
A candlelight concert will be held at the “JCC Art Center,” the first of Tadao Ando’s works to be built in downtown Seoul.
Education accessible to everyone, classical music accessible to everyone
The JCC Art Center is a space built and operated by Jaeneung Education. Guided by the founder’s principle—that everyone possesses unlimited potential and therefore requires a proper educational environment—the company commissioned Tadao Ando to design the building.
Tadao Ando utilized exposed concrete and diagonal lines. Since the site is located on a hillside, he designed a building that harmonizes with its surroundings so that people can naturally approach it along the path. For Tadao Ando, the JCC Art Center is a work designed to serve as both a venue for art and a venue for education.
The JCC Art Center, a place where education and art are open to all. And it is here that the Candlelight Concert series takes place. The Candlelight Concert series selects iconic spaces in various cities to host classical concerts. In line with its mission to lower the barrier to entry so that everyone can enjoy classical music, the series chose the JCC Art Center—which provides accessible education to all—as its new venue.
The concert hall at the JCC Art Center is entirely clad in wood panels on the front facade, allowing visitors to enjoy rich acoustics within Tadao Ando’s signature minimalist design. A key feature is that the sound quality remains consistent regardless of where one is seated.
The Candlelight Concert is scheduled to present a variety of programs over several days at the JCC Art Center.
The Candlelight Concert: Mozart’s Final Masterpieces, held at the JCC Art Center, centers on *Requiem*.
The Requiem is a piece Mozart composed while contemplating his own funeral; it was his final work, on which he labored until just before his death. Although he did not complete it, it is considered one of humanity’s greatest masterpieces. Candlelight’s 60-minute Mozart Requiem program allows you to hear everything from the sections Mozart composed himself to those completed by his protégé.
26 December 2026 17:00 + more dates
엘림아트센터
The ever-beloved music of Studio Ghibli can be experienced in the Candlelight Joe Hisaishi program.
The “Candlelight: Joe Hisaishi” program features the music of Joe Hisaishi, who composed the scores for all of director Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films. From the main soundtrack of *My Neighbor Totoro* to *Howl’s Moving Castle* and *Spirited Away*, you can experience these classic pieces—songs whose melodies alone evoke vivid images from the films—in a classical setting.
26 December 2026 17:00 + more dates
엘림아트센터
