KOREAN NET

Official sponsorship of the 40th anniversary performance of the Bach Academy in celebration of its 20th anniversary

At 11 AM on March 26, there was an Easter celebration performance by the Bach Academy (Principal Mario Videla) at the historic Teatro Colón Theater in Buenos Aires. The performance was also a venue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Goldmund, the birthplace of Argentina's famous home appliance brand Peabody, and the 40th anniversary of the end of military rule and democratization. At the concert, Pablo Sarabi (first violin), Andrés Spiler (oboe), and Ricardo Grazer (recorder) presented impressive performances to the audience.

According to Principal Videla, the educational philosophy of the Bach Academy is not only to publicize Bach's works and raise the socio-cultural level, but also to invite the general audience to classical performances to provide them with more familiar, direct and lively music. In other words, it emphasizes that the relationship with the public is the core of art, and aims to share the emotions of the community through music. The Bach Academy is also famous for collaborating with famous choirs and musicians at home and abroad, such as Robert Levin, the Kuiken brothers, Gustav Leonhard, Christoph Rademann, the Dresden Choir, Zimmermann, and Helmut Lilling. In this performance, the Bach Academy introduced about 100 of Bach's Easter cantatas, which have been held for 25 years under the name of 'Sunday Cantata'. What you should pay attention to is the words posted on the front page of the introduction to the sponsor, Peabody, in the performance brochure.

“lo único que quiero poseer para siempre es el poder de la más elevada cultura para mi país. Porque es lo único que nos da felicidad y brinda felicidad a otro.” Translated to mean, “The only thing I want to have indefinitely is the power of high culture. It is because the power of culture makes ourselves happy and furthermore gives happiness to others,” a quote by Baekbeom Kim Gu. The brochure introduces Kim Gu as the last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Peabody is a small home appliance manufacturer founded by Korean Choi Do-seon. In accordance with the management philosophy of the entrepreneur, it spares no support for cultural and artistic events. This time, it sponsored the performance of the Bach Academy, a prestigious music academy in the city of Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America.

Peabody founder Choi Do-seon is a well-known figure whose biography has been reported several times by leading local media. He is followed by descriptions, such as being a phoenix, having dogged perseverance, rising from being an illegal immigrant from a slum to a successful entrepreneur, being a strong-willed Korean who overcame adversity with an indomitable fighting spirit, and being a person who has failed more than having succeeded. In September 2022, he was awarded the Shining Immigrant Award. He immigrated to Argentina with his family at the age of 12, living in a single room in an unauthorized slum with a family of four; he finished his schooling as an audit student because he did not have permanent residency. Afterwards, he joined Daewoo Electronics as an assistant interpreter and was promoted to sales manager. Using his experience at that time, he took over a home appliance company after leaving the company and established Goldmund. In the early days, he was in a poor situation where he had to do everything himself without a porter or secretary, but now, 20 years later, his company has grown into a medium-sized group with 200 employees and a factory of 15,000 m2 in the nearby city of Ullingham. It also plans to secure an additional 18,000 m2 of plant space in the Ezeisa area, employing additional 150 people. Peabody is gaining a good image in the local area through welfare for its employees and return of profits to the local community. In addition, considering the local culture of Argentina, where mate tea is mainly drunk, the company invented a smart thermos bottle, which is also a winning design in a design contest conducted as part of industry-university cooperation. The smart thermos bottle won not only the Innovation (Creativity) Award, but also the Red Dot Award, one of the internationally prestigious design awards.

However, the road to this point was not smooth. He's had four bankruptcies and at one point considered extreme options. Imported parts, equipment, and products were tied up at customs helplessly for several months due to government regulations, and products he produced were submerged by heavy rains and had to be retrieved by boat. When asked how he could not be frustrated, he replied very succinctly, "Because of my family I have to support." Now, the burden of maintaining the company and protecting jobs has been added to his shoulders. He shared his experience, saying that adversity is 80% of what raised him, and through the adversity people can be stronger, grow, and discover their hidden talents. He picked his father as the person who had the greatest influence on his life. His father was forced to work in Hokkaido during the Japanese colonial period, but he was strong enough to walk 3,000 km to return to his hometown after liberation. There is a picture of a ladle in the Peabody company building. President Choi Do-seon said it was to honor his late father Choi Young-man, who did his best without losing hope even in extreme circumstances. His father, whose hometown was North Korea, lost his entire fortune due to land reform implemented by communists after liberation. He surrendered to the US Army and spent two years in a prisoner-of-war camp. There he picked up a piece of metal and made a ladle in the hope that he would one day be able to leave the camp, uncertain when and where he would use it. He referred to his father as "a man who has been robbed of what he has many times in life, but who has the ability to make a ladle." This ladle embodies his manufacturing philosophy: excellent quality, durability, robustness, and ease of use.

As the reason he decided to join the Bach Academy this time, he said, "What hurts my heart more than economic poverty is cultural poverty. I deeply felt that people should not be culturally alienated and discriminated." He plans to establish a cultural foundation to discover and support local artists, support performances, and promote cultural exchanges between Korea and Argentina. Moreover, he plans to promote exchanges between Korean and Argentine entrepreneurs to introduce the management methods and philosophies of Korean companies to the local market. Meanwhile, Peabody also sponsored and supported the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Photo Exhibition on March 14, and is also developing a Spanish website to promote the women.