(C) Culture Journal Korea

An environment-culture festival, where the clear voices of children and music meet to brighten the future of the Earth, is taking its first steps in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Hosted by the International Children's Environmental Music Festival Organizing Committee and organized by Rousseau's Forest Kindergarten, 'CHILDREN SING FOR THE EARTH, 2026 Rousseau's Forest International Children's Environmental Music Concert' will grandly open at 5:30 PM on the 12th at the lawn yard of the Rousseau's Forest Majang Campus in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Based on the core message that "when children sing, the future of the Earth changes," this event is designed as an opportunity for future generations of children to proactively express their love for the Earth and strengthen their commitment to action amidst environmental pollution and the climate crisis.

This inaugural declaration concert marks the first step toward leaping into a new form of global environment-culture festival that organically connects environmental education, cultural arts, children, nature, ESG, and international exchange. It holds a grand vision that the small echo starting in the Gyeonggi region will spread globally in the future to grow into an international children's environmental music festival. Nail-bong, who has successfully led various large-scale cultural arts projects, will serve as the general producer and director of the event, foreshadowing a touching stage where nature and music harmonize.

As the highlight of the stage, touching special performances by masters who overcame adversity and rose to global stages will unfold. First, tenor Choi Seung-won, who rose above the trial of polio in his childhood, takes the stage. In 1993, Choi made his name known on the global stage by winning first place as the first male Asian tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera Competition, dubbed the dream stage for vocalists. Since then, he has spread a message of hope through music on numerous domestic and international stages, including the solo performance of the national anthem at the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics and KBS Open Concert. At this music festival, he plans to deliver a touching harmony where the entire world becomes one solely through music, transcending the different barriers and boundaries of disability and environment.

The stage will then be deepened by fingerstyle guitarist Kim Ji-hee. Kim is the protagonist of the documentary film 'My Song Goes Far, Far Away' and a performer who overcomes severe intellectual disabilities and plays notes of hope to the world through guitar performance. Transcending physical limitations like disability and communicating with the public through music, she will deliver a strong yet warm message through this performance that 'disability awareness education and music have no disabilities or borders.' In addition, the Yongin Women's Choir (conducted by Kim Sung-soo and Choi Seung-won) will join to add depth to the performance with beautiful harmonies, while a variety of programs will welcome the audience, including creation songs and choruses themed on environment, children's songs and choruses with nature, and a global children's environmental music exchange stage.

Another important pillar of the concert is the practical performance led by children as the main agents. Children participating in the event will directly take the stage to recite the 'Children's Environmental Declaration' and publicly proclaim a solemn promise to the Earth. Through specific practical pledges such as "loving nature, saving water, conserving electricity, reducing waste, and protecting trees and forests," the children will strengthen their will to put environmental protection into action in their daily lives. This process is expected to serve as an opportunity for the growing generation to foster environmental sensitivity as protagonists of the climate crisis era and for families and local communities to practice ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) values together.

The sound directors for the concert are Joo Byung-do and Lee Young-hwan, and drone director In Soo-hyung will vividly capture the beautiful nature and the scene of the festival viewed from the sky. Starting with this inaugural declaration concert, the organizers plan to build a global network where children at home and abroad solidarity through music, and spread the importance of environmental protection in an artistic language. Attention is focused on whether the small singing voice of a child can become a giant echo, breathing life into every corner of the global village and sparking the flame of action for a sustainable tomorrow.

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