Discover the Beauty of Korean Gagok at the 2026 Korean Art Song Competition!

Discover the Beauty of Korean Gagok at the 2026 Korean Art Song Competition

Emerging singers are invited to explore Korea’s rich art song tradition through the 2026 Korean Art Song Competition. Finalists selected via video submission will travel to Boston for rehearsals and a live final round before a distinguished jury and audience. A travel honorarium will be provided to all finalists.

Korean Art Song (Gagok) is a musical setting of a poem or text written based on the Western European classical art tradition and notation system that was embraced in Korea at the end of the nineteenth century. The Korean Art Song Competition (KASC) is designed to celebrate the history and the genre of Korean art songs, Gagok.

With the increasing interest and popularity in K-pop, K-drama, and K-movie cultures and the Korean language in the United States, the time is ripe to make Gagok more accessible to Americans. This competition will be a unique opportunity for American singers to experience a broader study on Gagok including analysis of phonetic alphabets, compositional styles, text-melody relations, the poetry, and historic and cultural backgrounds of the text. Furthermore, we hope that this event will build a greater appreciation for Korean culture and its art songs.

KCSB reserves the right to award all or partial prizes at its discretion.

Finalists must be able to travel to Boston for rehearsal and the final round on August 15, 2026. A travel honorarium will be provided to finalists traveling to Boston.