Pianist Shin Eun-kyung’s storytelling piano concert 〈Telling Sound, Body〉 will be held on Sunday, May 31 at 4:00 PM at the auditorium on the 4th floor of THE SHARP Gallery in Jageok-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Following the JCC Art Center stage in February, this time the event takes place at THE SHARP Gallery, a multifaceted cultural space operated by POSCO E&C.
When Sound Begins Its Journey Through the Body
Pianist Shin Eun-kyung, who planned this performance, poses the question, “How are we looking at our own bodies, allowing them, and living?” Without speaking, the body shows and reveals many things. We feel, remember, and live through our bodies. But we rarely have much time to slowly listen to the stories the body is telling.
The subtitle of the performance is “Sound Begins the Journey of the Body.” In a single short sentence, the character of this stage is all there. Music comes through the ears, but the real journey starts the moment that sound reaches some part of the body. The subtle vibrations spreading across the shoulders, the chest, and the fingertips. In other words, the listener’s body becomes another instrument of the music.
It is similar to following your breath in meditation. Between inhalation and exhalation, between one note and the next, in those tiny spaces, people finally meet themselves. This performance is prepared for that meeting.
Music of Staying, Not Analysis
Since 2018, Shin Eun-kyung has been continuing the storytelling piano concert series. This is a stage that sets aside the pressure of needing to know classical music in order to enjoy it, and instead suggests simply listening and staying awhile. The short stories woven between pieces are less like program notes and more like the pauses—between breaths. They give the body time to let the music settle somewhere within, and they refine the mindset for welcoming the next piece.
In the program notes for this stage, there is a line that says, “Beyond listening to music with your ears, it leads you to experience it with your body as if it were seeping into your skin.” If you step back from a place of analyzing and evaluating, music becomes—at last—something you can feel. This is a moment when mindfulness, as spoken of in meditation, opens naturally through music as a medium.
Meditation in Listening
Sound meditation is a practice in which you focus your awareness on a specific sound or vibration and keep your mind calm. The instrument called the piano can itself become a tool for meditation. The clear beginning as the hammer strikes the strings, the lingering resonance that stretches out, and the silence that waits for the next sound. Note by note, it carries your awareness into the present moment like a mantra.
The short stories that connect one piece to the next play the role of helping the audience’s breathing stay even. At every moment when the music rises and then settles again, words rest quietly—guiding listeners so their minds don’t get scattered. This is not simply a time to hear a piece-by-piece explanation; it is closer to the process of opening the body’s space for taking the music in more deeply.
From Baroque to Contemporary—A Breath That Never Breaks
The storytelling piano concert series brings together European classical music and Korean original compositions on a single stage. The program has been built to connect the era from Baroque to the present in one continuous breath. The stage begins with Rameau and Bach’s refined melodies; passing through Beethoven, the emotional texture broadens, and with Schumann and Chopin, it ripples like waves. When it reaches Brahms and F. Ÿ. A. Bülow, warmth fills the air, and the melodies of Wolkom and Morricone drift into the audience like a scene from an old memory, moving toward the final moments. This concert was planned with the hope that it won’t remain in the past, but will become a sensation that carries forward into our lives in this very moment.
This flow resembles a long meditation session: the initial settling, the gentle stirring in the middle, and the kindness and insight of the latter half. Without suppressing or grasping, it is simply a time to let things flow. By the end of the stage—linked by one breath—each audience member will meet themselves at least once in their own way.
Music Meditation at THE SHARP Gallery in Jagok-dong, Gangnam
THE SHARP Gallery is a multifaceted cultural space with four floors, operated by POSCO E&C. After reopening in September 2023 as “THE SHARP Gallery 2.0,” the space began as a residential culture exhibition hall and has since become an urban cultural platform where curated exhibitions, talks, and music performances continue throughout the year. The architecture using POSCO’s sturdy materials, the curved exterior paneling and glass curtain wall, and indoor/outdoor themed gardens combine to offer the leisure of a park right in the city. Because it is close to SRT Suseo Station, visitors often come from outside the region as well.
The 4th-floor auditorium where the performance is held is sized so that, rather than the distance of a large concert hall, the performer’s breath and the movement of the hands above the keys come close to you. At 4:00 PM on Sunday—when the last light of the week starts to fall diagonally beyond the curved exterior—music begins.
Pianist Shin Eun-kyung said, “Over the past three years, I used my body and newly realized sensations, and I want to share those with the music. Through the music that I learned and remembered with my body, I want to discuss with the audience the question, ‘How should I look at and accept my own body?’”
This concert is an “art as sound meditation” stage—held not in a meditation center or a temple, but in a space where architecture, nature, and music coexist. It’s a place where you don’t have to try to understand the music. All you have to do is sit in your chair, arrange your breathing, and wait for the first note to flow. Near the end of the performance, what kind of music and which texture remains will be remembered as different scenery for each listener.
A time to understand music with your body, and a time that connects you fully to the “you” within—are waiting.
Because this performance is free, it may fill up quickly, so it’s best to apply in advance.
Reservation application: https://booking.naver.com/booking/12/bizes/985768/items/7616084?isProgramBizItem=false&startDateTime=2026-05-14T00%3A00%3A00%2B09%3A00
