한국국제교류재단

1. Please briefly introduce yourself.

I am a composer and professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Music at Korea National University of Arts and concurrently dean of the university’s School of Korean Traditional Arts. I received a Ph.D. in music composition from the Indiana University Bloomington in the US, but opted to write music based on the dignified aestheticism of traditional Korean music. I am focusing my efforts on bringing the beauty of Korean culture to the world through new pieces that merge and combine traditional Korean musical elements with Western music in tune with the times.

2. In July, your work “Honbul (Spiritual Fire) 7: Encounter” premiered in Berlin, combining daegeum (large transverse bamboo flute) and a Western orchestra. How did this happen?

I wrote a piece commissioned for the Commemorative Concert for the 120th Anniversary of the National Anthem of the Korean Empire, jointly held by the Korean Cultural Center in Germany and the Kammersymphonie (Chamber Symphony) Berlin. I began writing the concerto series “Honbul” in 2002 with the message that human life is ultimately the continuation of precious and momentary encounters. The theme of the July concert was the fateful meeting 120 years ago between Korea and German composer Franz Eckert, so I wrote the music with the title “Honbul: Encounter.” The work made its world premiere at the Konzerthaus (Concert Hall) Berlin on July 1 and Handel House in Halle the next day under the baton of conductor Jürgen Bruns and daegeum player Lee Ah-ram.

3. How was the response?

German audiences paid the keenest attention to every sound of my work, and their responses were very good. Those with extensive experience listening to creative musical works appreciated the piece and said the traditional characteristics of the daegeum and the harmony with the orchestra’s modern tone were quite impressive. Though never hearing the daegeum before, they seemed to embrace its unique and nature-like sound and freely expressed microtones as very modern. I think they felt that the music was new and interesting. I was also glad because my music apparently conveyed a sense of kinship to the German people, who share a history of war and national division with Koreans.

4. What motivated you to compose the “Honbul” series?

In 2002, the International Festival of Women in Music commissioned a piece from me. While composing “Honbul 1” for jeongga (classical Korean poems and songs), the 12-string zither gayageum, and a gugak (traditional music) orchestra, I was strongly motivated after reading the epic novel Honbul by Choi Myung-hee to express the life and spirit of Koreans embedded in traditional culture as intensely told in the story. So 19 years ago, I wrote the first part of the series for a female voice, gayageum, and gugak orchestra under the title “Honbul 1: Even If I Planted All the Baekcho Trees.” This was followed by “Honbul 2: My Spirit Brushed You,” “Honbul 3: I Go and Go but Cannot Go on the Road,” “Honbul 4: Even for a Moment,” “Honbul 5: Sigim,” “Honbul 6: Shaman,” and “Honbul 7: Encounter.”

5. How did “Honbul 7” performed at the Berlin concert differ from the earlier parts of the series staged in Korea?

The previous works were based on Choi Myung-hee’s novel and composed for the gayageum and a gugak orchestra or for the haegeum (vertical fiddle) and an orchestra. As the latest work to premiere in Berlin, the global center of classical music, I wrote it for the daegeum and a Western orchestra. I have always been confident that the sound and aesthetics of our time-honored traditional instruments like the gayageum, geomungo (plucked zither), daegeum, and piri (pipe) appeal greatly to contemporary audiences. The sound of the daegeum is much like that of nature, wind, water, and human breath. The vibration of the common reed’s inner membrane in the instrument’s mouthpiece brings out the high note “clean sound,” which is found nowhere else in the world. I was sure of the creation of new music when the daegeum met a Western orchestra of varied tones.

6. What international exchanges have you conducted as dean of the School of Korean Traditional Arts?

Since the School of Korean Traditional Arts was named last year as the country’s leading institution for traditional Korean arts by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it has conducted a variety of projects including an international composition competition for works featuring traditional Korean instruments. We jointly held the Korean New Music Festival in Berlin and introduced over 30 new works at the Konzerthaus Berlin. These events were instrumental for higher global recognition of Korea’s creative music. This year, we began exchanges with institutions of higher learning abroad by holding workshops and performances with the University of Cologne, Folkwang University of the Arts, and University of Hamburg in Germany. We also presented performances of samul nori (traditional percussion music) in South America, pansori (solo lyrical opera) in France and Belgium, and traditional dance in Japan while working on the creation and production of content and holding the Korean arts colloquium.

7. How can new works of Korean classical arts attract more global recognition?

Such arts need higher quality content, creativity, and a greater level of completion as well as international exchanges through which composers worldwide can introduce their works and more opportunities to understand their creations. I think what I’m doing is part of such efforts.

8. Will your “Honbul” series continue?

I will continue my “Honbul” series because it instills spirit into my creative activity. In October this year, my “Ritual Dance 1: Tal (Mask)” for the piri and percussion was played during a concert tour of Germany. German audiences were amazed and excited over the unique tone of the piri for its eight finger holes and versatile expression, enormous volume, and potential. I am thinking of writing “Honbul 8” for the piri and a Western orchestra. I want to impress people around the world and enrich their lives by creating music based on traditional Korean arts embodying our ancestors’ spirit and life.

Curtain call at a “Honbul” performance in Berlin