Dear Korea CQ members,

I hope you are enjoying the warm spring weather.

On April 18, Korea CQ visited the ‘ODE Maison,’ the world’s largest audio showroom, located in Sinsadong.

H.E Thomas Lehmann, H.E Gabor Csaba, Edit Csaba, Won Ho Park, Woo Seok Lim, Jae Eun Park, Erwan Vilfeu, Yang Sub Sim, Sumi Jang, Yann Le Bourdon, Stephanie Le Bourdon, Darren Morrish, Jake Kim, Seon Hee Kim, Kwon Ha Ryu, Hyojin Chung, Choi Jungwha, and Didier Beltoise attended this forum.

The reception took place on the 3rd floor of the sleek and beautiful building, where members were warmly welcomed by Mr. Won Ho Park, CEO&Chairman of ODE and father of the international star Psy, and Mr. Woo Seok Lim, Executive Director of ODE. Members had time to catch up with each other over a glass of delicious wine and champagne, all of which were prepared by Chairman Park.

The evening officially started with a video introducing CICI’s activities that showed previous CICI Korea awardees including Psy. After the video, Chairman Park gave a heartfelt welcoming speech, and dinner commenced.

Members enjoyed Korea dosirak, prepared by CICI, along with the delicious foods prepared by Ms. Jae Eun Park, Director of ODE, as well as the rich champagne and wines prepared by Chairman Park. The music that played in the background, selected by Director Lim, added to the pleasant ambience of the evening.

After dinner, members split into two groups and the official tour & experience of the ODE Maison begun.

Each floor of the ODE is designed to best complement each high-end audio brand. The 4th floor contained the ultra-luxury high-end audio products of the Dutch brand 'Kharma,' the 3rd floor was the Danish brand 'Steinway Lyngdorf,' the 2nd floor was filled with the German brand 'Burmester,' known for its unerring focus on quality and musicality, and finally the 1st floor housed 'Oswalds Mill Audio?OMA' audio products, famous for their incorporation of vintage sound technologies in their product designs.

Each area is completely soundproof and vibration proof, so one can fully enjoy the sounds of the audio without being disturbed by speakers right next door. The interior that was also carefully selected to match the atmosphere for each area let members lose themselves into the music through both their eyes and ears.

Members put aside their thoughts to solely concentrate on the sounds and music in each room. Some members could be seen closing their eyes to better focus on the music, and often asked to hear one or two more songs to enjoy the audio products just a little longer.

After experiencing the audio products on each floor, members met at the basement level lounge area, where they had time to share their thoughts on the audio brands with refreshments.

Once everyone was gathered, members moved to the ‘Cinema’ hall where they could relax on the comfortable chairs and watch the finale performance of the forum.

The video members watched in the ‘Cinema’ was a part of the New York Philharmonic concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2008, conducted by the world-renowned Lorin Maazel. Before watching the video, Executive Director Woo Seok Lim said amidst the unsettling political situation in Korea, he hopes CQ members were free of worry during their visit at ODE, and asked for the members to especially look at the expressions of the North Korean audience, conductor Lorin Maazel, and the New York Philharmonic members.

We would like to thank all members who attended. We would also like to give special thanks to Chairman Won Ho Park for inviting Korea CQ members for this unforgettable experience, Executive Director Woo Seok Lim for organizing the event, and Director Jae Eun Park for her thoughtful preparations from food to flower decorations. Last but not least, we would like to thank Hyojin Chung for her outstanding interpretation.

On May 13, Korea CQ will be visiting the Korean Stone Art Museum. We are looking forward to our members’ active participation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Korea CQ MeeJung Kim

For more pictures, please click the link below.

https://goo.gl/photos/Stycbg6D3mCZpY2u8