The opening ceremony for the launch of the Hyo Jeong Youth Orchestra

On November 4, at the Cheong-A Camp auditorium in Seorak, Korea, the opening ceremony for the launch of the Hyo Jeong Youth Orchestra took place. Eighty-seven students from forty-five families living in the Seorak area have signedup for instrumental instruction on the violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, guitar, percussion and voice. In addition to the formation of this orchestra, there will be the formation of a youth choir.

Earlier this year, True Mother had asked David Eaton and his Hyo Jeong Music Committee to start the process of finding students and teachers in the hopes of developing this unique musical opportunity into a formidable music project that will assist in the advancement of heavenly culture. In addition to the musical component of the project, there will be an educational component as well. Professor Mi Ran Kim, who teaches at the Sun Hwa Arts School in Seoul, and Mr. Dugk Hun Cho, director of the Korea Multicultural Peace Federation, are creating an internal guidance curriculum based on True Parents’ words concerning art and culture. Principled education will be a significant aspect of the HJYO.

The program on November 4 included a flower presentation to True Parents by David Eaton and several children of the HJ Youth Orchestra program, an invocation by Rev. Dong Woo Kim, senior pastor of the Cheongshim Church in Seorak, congratulatory remarks by Yeon Ah Moon, WFWP international president and Dr. Young Ho Yun representing True Mother’s Secretariat. A video message from True Mother was also presented in which she mentioned how Heavenly Parent’s presence is evident in this special place and that if we pray sincerely we can receive special inspiration from heaven about art and creativity.

David Eaton cited two quotations from True Father regarding art and culture in the establishment of a culture of peace. The first one was from True Father’s autobiography:

People often think that politics moves the world, but that is not the case. It is culture and art that move the world. It is emotion, not reason, that strikes people in the innermost part of their hearts. When hearts change and are able to receive new things, ideologies and social regimes change as a result.

Father made this assertion in the context of his establishing the Little Angels. In her speech of April 25, 2016, True Mother recalled that era and how when our church was very poor, Father had the vision and foresight to create the Little Angels School and the wonderful performing troupe that would “strike

people in the innermost part of their hearts” and effectively open people’s mind to the truth of Divine Principle. The second quotation that Dr. Eaton cited is from Cheon Seong Gyeong:

The ultimate goal of artists, and those who work with the arts, is to reach the world of God’s heart. God, the Creator, wants to feel boundless joy through all the different things he personally created with his own hands, one by one, as works of art. God’s heart is such that he wants to give again after he has given. After doing things for others he wants to do more for them, and even after investing unconditionally he wants to forget what he has done. That heart is the basis of the world of true love. God’s ideal of creation for the created world arose from that heart. The starting point of art is the desire to represent that heart.

Accordingly, in the world of art there are no national boundaries. The purpose of art is not to serve as a tool of an ideology or an agenda. Its fundamental principles are harmony and unity. Divisiveness and conflict are fruits of fallen nature. Therefore the world of art demonstrates universal characteristics in all directions, bringing the East to understand the West and the West to accept the East.”

Director Eaton made the point that a symphony orchestra is a Western cultural invention and that by creating a Western-style orchestra in Korea there would be an opportunity for East — West unity to emerge; Two-becoming-one in the spirit of Cheon Il Guk.

As part of the HJ Youth Orchestra festivities, there were several musical performance by students and faculty members. Two young violinists, brothers Chan Hee and Chan Woo Moon, performed Jacques Offenbach’s “Can Can,” and Shuji Hata delighted the audience with a solo guitar performance of “Phantom of the Opera.” David Eaton then led the faculty orchestra in several songs with vocalists Eun Chae Lee, who sang “Nella Fantasia,” and Yasuko Sakada and Mi Ran Kim performed a duet of the well- known Korean song, “Ma Bop Eh Sung” (Magic Castle). Yeunhee Chang was a featured soloist on her soprano saxophone in “Nella Fantasia.”

The HJYO faculty will include Angelica Birdsong and Min Jin Cho (violin), Yuh Jin Choi (viola), Jun Suk Hwang (cello), Michiko Watabe and Kumiko Kitaoko (flute), Junko Suzuki (clarinet), Shuji Hata (guitar), Yun Gun Kwak (drums and percussion), Mi Ran Kim and Eun Chea Lee (vocals), and David Eaton will lead the HJ youth orchestra. The HJYO staff will include Yeunhee Chang, Ji Ae Shingok and Eriko Kubo. Music lessons will take place daily and the HJ Youth Orchestra will provide instruments and rehearsal facilities in the Cheong-A Camp that is located near the Global Peace Center.

True Mother’s aim is to create a new cultural center in the Chung Pyung Lake campus that will function as a concert hall, a theater and movie venue, a recording studio, a music academy, dance studio and martial arts school. The Cheong-A Camp facility will be the primary location for this vision. Moreover, there is a plan to have summer arts workshops that will educate artists in the ways of Divine Principle and Unification Thought’s Theory of Art, while providing expertise in music, dance, sound engineering, filmmaking and martial arts. Students will also perform in the local community as part of an outreach effort in conjunction with the local churches and tribal messiahs.

After the program, David Eaton recalled True Father’s words from 1983 regarding art and culture and creating a heavenly artistic culture: “If, through prayer and hard work you cleanse yourself, you will always be able to ask your mind what is right. If you have some artistic question while choreographing or staging a dance or a song and you don’t know what the right staging should be, as long as you have purity in mind and heart, God can tell you easily. So, keep your mind and heart clean so you will know what is artistically right.” Aju!