Two summer festivals, two routes into the season's classical music

Roughly 450 kilometers separate Daehangno in the heart of Seoul from Jeju Island off the southern coast.

This summer, two music festivals — modest in public profile but firm in their convictions — return to those two places, linked this year by a common banner.

Both are part of 2026 ARKO SUM FESTA, a brand run by Arts Council Korea (ARKO) that connects 15 theater, dance, music and traditional-arts festivals selected for its national performing-arts festival support program.

Staged across the cou ...