I have just returned from a trip to Boston to hear the Spectrum Singers — a classical music choral group — in their early spring performance of songs in English, Latin, German, French and — wait for it — Korean.

The Korean song was “Monnijeo” — “I cannot forget” with the words by Korea’s most famous poet, Kim So-wol. “Monnijeo” is his most famous poem, at least one of the first poems that all Koreans learn in school. The music was written by Jo Hye-yong, and the performance was wonderful. It’s an absolutely beautiful piece of music.

For me, looking at it from a Korean culture point of view, the way I look at everything, I cannot help but think this performance is a kind of milestone for Korean music and Korean culture. K-pop has made a big splash in America, and individual musicians from Korea are found in symphony orchestras around the world. Korean movies — “Parasite” (2019) was the first and so far only foreign language movie to win the Best Picture and Best Director award at the Oscars. "Crash Landing on You," "Squid Game" and other Korean shows have great followings. Korean restaurants are deemed by the New York Times as the finest restaurants in New York. But the music in the........

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