Gayageum Concert

The gayageum is Korea's best-known zither: twelve silk strings stretched over a long paulownia body, plucked with the right hand while the left presses and bends each note into life. That bending is the heart of the instrument — a single string can sigh, slide or tremble, and the same phrase never lands quite the same way twice. The Leeds Gayageum Group brings the instrument to the festival stage for an hour of live playing, from traditional Korean repertoire to newer writing for the gayageum.