Lee Young-ae Continues Challenging Unprecedented Role Of A Female Conductor Despite Being In Her 50s
Actress Lee Young-ae presents a new and unique character transformation in her new drama “Maestra”
Lee Young-ae is returning to the small screen through the drama “Maestra: Strings of Truth”. Although she is already 52 years old and has been a representative actress with a beautiful appearance and perfect acting skills, why did she still decide to take on such a difficult character?
It is extremely rare to earn the title of ‘Maestra’ among conductors worldwide. This term signifies a globally recognized master in the strict world of classical music and represents a prestigious and challenging position that is not easy to get.
Lee Young-ae is known for her carefulness in choosing scripts. Among numerous casting offers and recommendations, she chose “Maestra” because of her curiosity about “music” and her desire to develop more as an actress. Regarding her challenge, the actress shared, “There has never been a female conductor character in Korean dramas. I became greedy to do that as an actress and the content was also interesting”
Based on the French series titled “Philharmonia”, this 12-episode drama “Maestra” depicts the story of Cha Se-eum, a conductor working in the US and Europe who returns to Korea after 20 years to take over the orchestra. This character hides a secret and lives with various rumors surrounding her.
After confirming her appearance in “Maestra”, Lee Young-ae focused on practicing violin and conducting from November last year to prepare for the filming. She even participated in the actual rehearsals of orchestra members and learned the expressions, movements, and atmosphere of the musicians.
Lee Young-ae worked hard to express not only the appearance of a conductor but also the three-dimensional image of Cha Se-eum, a perfectionist who always drives people around her to the extreme. Through this drama, viewers with be able to see a completely new face and unique charm of Lee Young-ae.
With the orchestra as the main material, “Maestra” was compared a lot with MBC’s drama “Beethoven Virus” in the past. However, after episodes 1 and 2 of the drama were released on December 9th and 10th, viewers found out the new points in the way the characters’ psychology and situations were unveiled through music. Lee Young-ae’s performance also made many people curious about the next developments.
Knowing about the comparison, the actress also mentioned it herself, saying “‘Beethoven Virus’ was a good drama but it aired a long time ago and not many dramas about conductors and classical music have been produced since then”, adding, “I’m very confident about ‘Maestra’”.
Source: Daum
