“A great harmony to pull your heartstrings,
We support people with developmental disabilities to pursue their dreams!”

Celebrating the 5^th anniversary this year, the Great Music Festival (hereinafter “GMF”) announced six teams that made the final cut.

In conjunction with the Heart to Heart Foundation*, SK Innovation has been holding GMF every October since 2017 as a music contest for the developmentally disabled in classical and applied music so as to allow them to achieve their great dreams through a harmony stemming from their musical talents. So far, there have been 131 groups and 1,424 individual performers participated in GMF since the first year of the festival.

(*)Heart to Heart Foundation: Established in 1988, this social welfare organization is devoted to supporting the underprivileged children and their families home and abroad and engaged in cultural welfare projects such as the foundation of Heart to Heart Orchestra composed of young musicians with developmental disabilities.

▲ The 4^th Great Music Festival (GMF) was held in a recital hall of the Heart to Heart Foundation located in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea in October last year.

The final stage of the 5^th GMF will be revealed on the coming October 27. This year, the event is hosted by the Heart to Heart Foundation and sponsored by SK Innovation, Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, SM Entertainment, and the Community Chest of Korea.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the 4^th GMF last year was organized as an online talk concert and streamed live on SK Innovation’s official YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/askinnovation). It received tremendous attention from more than 5,500 viewers including those from overseas.

▲ (Left) Comedian Lee Soo-geun and singer JeA talked with the performers of the 4^th GMF last year / (Right) Supporting comments from viewers who watched the performance last year through SK Innovation’s Youtube channel

This year, due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, the event will also be broadcast online like last year. Anyone can enjoy the performance of the participating teams via SK Innovations’ official YouTube channel. Comedian Lee Soo-geun will be the host of the show for the 4^th year, and singer JeA, the leader of female group Brown Eyed Girls, will reappear as a panel the talk concert. Besides, girl group “aespa” who has made a comeback with their first mini album, “Savage”, will celebrate and support the event with their special performance.

A number of talented teams that have members with developmental disabilities throughout Korea applied for the qualifying round and six teams were selected for the finals after being assessed by the professional judges.

The six finalists include four teams in classical music (Lumen Chamber Orchestra, Vivace Ensemble, Omya View Ensemble, and Playssimo) and two teams in applied music (Mosaic, and Sun & Moon Band).

The six finalist teams will compete in the final stage of the 5^th GMF on October 27, 2021, and be awarded a total of KRW 20 million cash prize, more specifically ▲ KRW 10 million prize money for a first prize winner ▲ KRW 5 million prize money for a second prize winner ▲ KRW 2 million prize money for two third prize winners, respectively, and ▲ KRW 500,000 prize money for two fourth prize winners, respectively. Furthermore, the 1st prize winner will receive the Korean Ministerial Prize of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the purpose of revitalizing the performance teams for the developmentally delayed.

SK Innovation plans to support many GMF laureates to make the most out of this event and to obtain great opportunities to tread the stages in various local communities.