Three Upcoming Performances
at the Amato Opera
Donizetti's Don Pasquale














Sunday February 24, 2008 2:30 pm
Sunday March 2, 2008 2:30 pm
Saturday March 15, 2008 7:30 pm

-I will be playing principal flute in Donizetti's charming opera buffa, Don Pasquale. Please come and enjoy the beautiful music and delightful comedy !!!

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)











Luigi Lablache (1794-1858)
-the original Don Pasquale
Pini-Corsi, De Luca, Storchio and Sobinov, in the La Scala production of the 1904-05 season









Read about Donizetti, Don Pasquale, and LaBlache on Wikipedia:

Gaetano Donizetti
Don Pasquale
Luigi LaBlache

Anthony Amato
Artistic Director
319 Bowery
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-8200
Email: info@amato.org

My Grandfather Ahn Seok Young's 1941 film "Volunteer" on DVD!!!

Ahn Seok Young (Seok Ju)











"Volunteer" (1941)





















I literally CANNOT believe it, but my grandfather Ahn, Seok Young's film was discovered in China and was released on 4 disc DVD set by the Korean Film Archive, along with 3 other treasures, "Homeless Angels" (1941) by Choi, In-Kyu, "Spring of Korean Peninsula" (1941) by Lee Byeong-Il, and "Straits of Chosun" (1943) by Park, Ki-Chae.

I found a wonderful blog post on this subject (with full commentary and many pictures) by Matt from South Korea:
http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2007/11/1941s-volunteer.html

Korean Film Archive: http://www.koreafilm.org/publica/dvds.asp

These films were made during the last years of Japanese Occupation in Korea and they obviously contain Pro-Japanese sentiments and propaganda, but they are extremely important historical and artistic documents.






















My grandfather's birth name was Ahn, Seok Ju, and Seok Young was his artistic name. He was a poet, script writer, illustrator, artist, musician and art/film critic, and in 1937 made his directorial debut with the motion picture "Story of Sim Chung", based on a famous Korean folk tale. He is the author of the famous Korean lyric poem "Our Hope", originally "Our Hope is Independence", later becoming "Our Hope is Unification" after the Korean War, 1950-53. His eldest son and my uncle, Ahn, Byong Won, composed music to this lyric and now along with "Arirang", it's one of very few songs sung by both North and South Koreas.

I also found a web address introducing my grandfather, the illustrator:
http://lambiek.net/artists/a/ahn-seok-ju.htm

Happy Lunar New Year, 2008!!!