☉ CECILIA HEEJEONG KIM (Korea)

Composer, Stage Director and Production Artist, Associate Professor in Composition & New Media, Sang Myung University, Seoul, Korea

“Frozen Land in the Dry Sky” (2010 CrossSound Commission, World Premiere)

A Movement for World-mixed Chamber Ensemble* (Yup’ik vocals, djembe, gayageum (Korean 12-stringed zither), pipa (4-stringed Chinese lute), mudang bells (Korean shaman music bell-tree), marimba, saxophone, trombone and Western percussion)

Cecilia Heejeong Kim was born in Seoul in 1968 and graduated from Yonsei University, where she received her Bachelor's degree in musical composition in 1990. Upon graduation Kim moved to Philadelphia where she studied with Joseph Castaldo and began experimenting with multi-media works at the University of the Arts. She received her M.M. and Ph.D. in Music at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied with George Crumb, James Primosch and Richard Wernick. In 1996 Kim moved to Boston for post-doctoral study at Harvard University, and is currently a professor in composition at Sang Myung University in Seoul. Her music has been performed in Korea, China, France, Hungary and the U.S. Her interests cover various fields, which have led to her involvement in multimedia works and film and modern dance productions. Kim has won many competitions, including an award from The 26th Canadian International Annual Film Festival. In 2002, one of her pieces was selected to officially represent the Asian Games.

“…delivers a high form of art…” —Listener’s Magazine, New Zealand

“One of most creative artists of our time in Korea...”—Jungang Yun, Music critic, The Auditorium

* Supported by SangMyung University / 이 작품은 2010년 상명대학교 학술연구비로 지원제작 되었습니다.

☉ YURIKO HASE KOJIMA (Japan)

“The Oort Cloud” (2001 CrossSound Commission)

for pipa, gayageum, trombone, bari sax, and marimba

Born in Tokushima, Japan in 1962. After studying piano performance at Osaka College of Music in Japan, Yuriko Hase Kojima studied music composition in the United States for ten years. In 1993, she graduated at the top of the class from the Boston Conservatory. In 2000, she got her doctorate from Columbia University, where, under the Andrew Mellon fellowships, she taught the courses for several years. She studied music composition, computer music, music theory, aesthetics and philosophy of music, with Tristan Murail, Jonathan Kramer, Fred Lerdahl, George Edwards, Brad Garton, Betsy Jolas, Philippe Leroux, and John Clement Adams, among others.

Her music expands from contemporary European classical music idiom to Asian music tradition, combining styles and techniques from different part of the world, including forefront computer music. Her works have been presented at various international festivals and concerts, including the International Society for Contemporary Music's "World Music Days" (2000 in Luxembourg), the Asian Composers League's "Asian Music Week" (2000 in Yokohama), the International Computer Music Association's "International Computer Music Conference" (1997 Thessaloniki, 2005 Barcelona, 2006 New Orleans, 2007 Copenhagen), the Fontainebleau Music Festival in France, the International Guitar Festival in Mexico, and the CrossSound New Music Festival in Alaska, performed by prominent ensembles such as Ensemble Modern (Germany), the Pearls Before Swine Experience (Sweden), Azure Ensemble (USA), Ruckus Ensemble (USA), and New York New Music Ensemble (USA).

Ms. Kojima is a member of the International Computer Music Association, IRCAM Forum, the Electronic Music Foundation, International Alliance for Women in Music, the Japan Society for Contemporary Music, and the Japan Federation of Composers, by whom her pieces have been published and recorded on CD for JFC Japanese Composers Series.

Currently, Ms. Kojima serves as the Professor of Composition at Shobi University in Japan, specializing in composition, theory, and computer music. She also teaches as a lecturer at Toho Gakuen College School of Music and Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.  She is the founder and the artistic director of a non-profit art management organization Glovill (http://www.glovill.jp/english.html) for introducing new music to Japan.

MORE INFO AT http://homepage.mac.com/yurikohasekojima

☉ KAROLA OBERMÜLLER (Germany)

“The Great Secret Lies” (2001 CrossSound Commission) for pipa, gayageum, and marimba

Karola Obermüller, born in March 1977 near Darmstadt (Germany), began her musical education at age five studying piano and later cello, conducting and composition with composers such as Cord Meijering, Volker Blumenthaler, Theo Brandmüller and Adriana Hölszky (Mozarteum Salzburg).

She has been commissioned by Staatstheater Nürnberg for a new opera Dunkelrot, which premiered there on September 29, 2007. In August 2005, part of Dunkelrot was premiered at the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg, Germany. Also recently commissioned and premiered was the chorus and orchestra work Kohlenmonoxyd. Nachtstück at the IPPNW Congress in Nürnberg. In November 2006, she was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation to write a new work for bass clarinet and piano.

She collaborates with orchestras such as the RSO Saarbrücken and the Orchestre National de Lorraine, and with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montréal), who released a CD with her work helical in 2009. Other notable collaborators have included the ensembles Arditti Quartett (London), White Rabbit (Boston), North/South Consonance and Alarm Will Sound (New York City), ensemble phorminx (Germany) and KlangKonzepteEnsemble (Germany), and musicians Makiko Goto, Petra Hoffmann, Carin Levine, Michael Norsworthy, Frances-Marie Uitti and Jeremias Schwarzer.

Obermüller was one of three artists featured in the book: "...denn Kunst meint ja immer ein Sich-Preisgeben" by Charlotte Martin. For her compositions, Obermüller has received awards such as the Bavarian Youth Prize for Composition, presented to her by Zubin Mehta, the ASCAP 2004 Morton Gould Young Composer's Award, the Bohemians New York Musicians Club Prize (2005 & 2006) and the Darmstädter Musikpreis 2006. In autumn 2005, she received a stipend for a residency at the Centro tedesco di studi Veneziani in Venice, Italy. Obermüller was awarded scholarships by the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (2004 & 2006) and the "Akademie Musiktheater heute" program (2006-2008).

She is currently pursuing her doctorate in the Department of Music at Harvard University, studying with Bernard Rands, Harrison Birtwistle, Chaya Czernowin, Magnus Lindberg and Julian Anderson. She has been teaching music theory there since February 2006.

☉ PARK, JECHUN (Korea)

Change I (1993) arranged for cauyaq, pipa, kayagûm, trombone, bari sax, marimba and hand percussion

Jazz composer-percussionist Park Je Chun is widely regarded as a pioneer in a movement that combines western jazz with traditional Korean music. Born in 1961, in Seoul, Korea, he graduated from Chung-Ang University in 1986 with a degree in music composition. After graduation, he began studying traditional Korean musical forms, including the art of pansori (story singing), the janggu drum, and the music of shamans. 1n 1991, he formed his own rock group, which became very popular, playing with Kitaro in Osaka. In 1993, Park formed a new group, named "Mol-e mori," with which he produced the first of his works that featured the mixing of traditional Korean music and jazz forms.  Six ensembles later, including collaborations with such notables as trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith and bassist Mark Dresser, he started the free music duo "Miyeon & Park" with pianist Miyeon in 2001. His long and varied career has taken him around the world, literally and figuratively, via his exploration of a wide variety of musical styles. To facilitate playing this fusion of styles, Park performs on a unique percussion set-up, consisting of Korean and western instruments. When he plays on stage he sits on the floor, which, as he acknowledges, may look a little funny; on the other hand, the style helps him to manifest the spirit of Asia, as most Asian music was traditionally played by musicians seated directly on the earth or stage.

☉ WU, MAN (China/California)

See “Musicians”

MORE INFO AT www.wumanpipa.org.

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