![Jin Hi Kim plays electirc komungo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Jin_Hi_Kim_plays_electirc_komungo.jpg)
Jin Hi Kim (born February 6, 1957 in
Incheon
Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
) is a composer and performer of ''
komungo'' and electric komungo, and a Korean music specialist.
Kim is known as a pioneer for introducing ''
geomungo
The geomungo (also spelled ''komungo'' or ''kŏmun'go'') or ''hyeongeum'' (literally "black zither", also spelled ''hyongum'' or ''hyŏn'gŭm'') is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. ''Geomungo'' is a representative ...
'' (거문고, a Korean fretted board zither, also spelled ''komungo'') to American
contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...
scene through her own
cross-cultural Cross-cultural may refer to
*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis
*cross-cultural communication, a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate
*any of vari ...
chamber and orchestral compositions and her extensive solo work in
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
, as well as cross-cultural
free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...
. She is a
Guggenheim fellow in composition and her recent works include the development of ''komungobot'' (algorithmic robotic instrument) and solo performances of the world's only electric ''komungo'' with live interactive
MIDI computer system in her large-scale multimedia performance pieces.
Kim has received commissions from the
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including:
* Zankel Hall at ...
,
Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...
, and
Tan Dun's New Generation of East for Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
, among others.
During the last three decades Kim has performed as a ''komungo'' soloist in her own compositions at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, Lincoln Center,
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
(
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
), Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art (Washington, DC),
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
,
Asia Society
The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Man ...
(NYC),
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-European cultures and so ...
(Berlin), and for collaborative improvisations at
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
(
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
),
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
,
Moers Festival
The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. Performers at Moers ...
(
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
) and many significant international festivals throughout the
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Biography
Early life
She began studies of traditional
Korean music
Korea refers to music from the Korean peninsula ranging from prehistoric times to the division of Korea into South and North in 1945. It includes court music, folk music, poetic songs, and religious music used in shamanistic and Buddhist traditi ...
in South Korea in 1973, at her father's recommendation. She received a full scholarship to study at South Korea's first National High School for Korean Traditional Music (국립국악고등학교), one of 60 students accepted in the first year. The school was established under Ministry of Culture in association with the prestigious National Gugak Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (국립국악원). There, she practiced court orchestra music, learned both court and folk styles of singing (가곡
kagok, 판소리
pansori
' () is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.
The term ''pansori'' is derived from the Korean words ''pan'' (Hangul: 판) and ''sori'' (Hangul: 소리), the latter of which means "sound." However, ''pan' ...
, 민요 folk song), drumming (장고
janggo
The ''janggu'' (, also transliterated as ''janggo'' or ''changgo'') or sometimes called ''seyogo'' (slim waist drum) is the most representative drum in traditional Korean music. It is available in most kinds, and consists of an hourglass-shaped ...
) and bamboo flutes (단소
danso
The ''danso'' (also spelled ''tanso'') is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but since the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. It was imported from China ...
, 소금 sogeum), and selected the ''
geomungo
The geomungo (also spelled ''komungo'' or ''kŏmun'go'') or ''hyeongeum'' (literally "black zither", also spelled ''hyongum'' or ''hyŏn'gŭm'') is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. ''Geomungo'' is a representative ...
'' (거문고, a six feet long board
zither
Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
with sixteen frets and six silk strings that are plucked with a thin bamboo stick) as her major instrument. Her selection of the instrument was audacious; dating to the fourth century, the ''geomungo'' had been favored particularly by male
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
scholars, and was generally not played by women. Upon graduation she received Ministry of Culture's Outstanding Student Award (문화공보부장관상). She continued her studies with Korea's leading
ethnomusicologists
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
earning a B.A. degree in Korean traditional music theory and composition from
Seoul National University
Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...
in 1980. Upon graduation she received an award for rising new musicians and her composition was premiered for
KBS-TV national broadcasting.
Move to the United States
Interested in learning more about the musics of other cultures but aware that this would not be possible in Korea, Kim emigrated in August 1980 to the United States, where she immersed herself in world music. She first attended the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students.
History
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgh ...
and studied composition with
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
for one year then transferred to
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, where she studied with
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his form ...
,
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...
,
David Rosenboom
David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music.
Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...
, and
Larry Polansky
Larry Polansky (born 1954) is a composer, guitarist, mandolinist, and professor emeritus at Dartmouth College and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is a founding member and co-director of Frog Peak Music (a composers' collective) He c ...
and received an MFA in electronic music and recording media in 1985. She was awarded Paul Merrit Henry Prize upon graduation.
While in California, she also studied the Chinese ''
guqin
The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...
'' (an ancient 7-stringed zither) and Indian ''
bansuri
A bansuri is an ancient side blown flute originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal like material used in Hindustani classical music. It is referred to as ''nadi'' and ''tunava'' in the ''Ri ...
'' (bamboo flute) from
G. S. Sachdev, and began to investigate the possibility of cross-cultural creative music.
During the 1980s, she regularly attended the
New Music America
New Music America was a nomadic American festival (held in Montreal during its last year) showcasing at its origins New York City's Downtown Music, but growing into one of the largest new music festivals ever held in North America, all in an attem ...
festival, where she met many noted contemporary composers including
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
,
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...
,
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
,
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison,
Laurie Anderson
Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...
,
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...
,
Joan La Barbara
Joan Linda La Barbara (born June 8, 1947) is an American vocalist and composer known for her explorations of non-conventional or "extended" vocal techniques. Considered to be a vocal virtuoso in the field of contemporary music, she is credited w ...
,
Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick (born April 14, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his 1967 composition '' Silver Apples of the Moon'', the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch. He was one of the foun ...
,
Meredith Monk
Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording ...
,
Joseph Celli
Joseph Celli (born March 19, 1944) is an American musician and composer specializing in contemporary and improvised music for oboe and English horn. In addition, he plays the Yamaha WX7 MIDI breath controller, as well as double reed instruments fro ...
,
Malcolm Goldstein
Malcolm Goldstein (born March 27, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York) is an Americans, American-Canadians, Canadian composer, violinist and improviser who has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s. ...
,
David Moss,
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp (born March 1, 1951) is an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer.
A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released ...
,
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
and many others. From 1982 to 1988, she worked as a correspondent, interviewing and writing over 30 articles about those contemporary American composers for ''Eumak Dong-A'', a Korean monthly music magazine published by the ''Dong-A Daily News.''
Plunged into the American avant-garde music scene, she was invited to the Composer-to-Composer festival directed by
Charles Amirkhanian
Charles Benjamin Amirkhanian (born January 19, 1945; Fresno, California) is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian origin. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music. Perfor ...
in
Telluride, Colorado
Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first ...
in 1989 and joined the one-week residency with John Cage and selected leading composers.
Kim premiered her commissioned works predominately in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and travels worldwide performing. Kim lives in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and teaches in the Music Department at
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
.
Instruments
![Jin Hi Kim with komungo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Jin_Hi_Kim_with_komungo.jpg)
Jin Hi Kim's primary instrument is the ''geomungo'', though she also plays Korean percussion instruments such as
''janggo'' and ''
dancer’s barrel drum set''. With the Toronto instrument builder Joseph Yanuziello in 1998 Kim co-designed and now plays the electric ''komungo'', for which she has created numerous interactive pieces with a MIDI computer system using
MAX/MSP
Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, per ...
programmed by Alex Noyes. In collaboration with Alex Noyes Kim is developing ''komungobot'', an algorithmic robotic instrument.
Career and works
Kim has released 15 CDs, including ''Living Tones'', ''Komungo'', ''Pulses'', ''Komunguitar'', ''Sargeng'', ''No World Improvisations'', and ''Sound Universe''.
Cross-cultural compositions: Living Tones
Jin Hi Kim's compositions for Korean and Western instruments (both alone and in combination) have as their central focus the exploration of the Korean concept of ''
shigimse'' (시김새), the technique of ornamentation used in traditional vocal and instrumental music. Although the term's literal meaning is not known, in 1985 Kim began to use the term "living tones" to describe this attitude toward melodic material as she applied it in her work. Thus, her compositions use newly developed forms of
notation
In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...
to indicate various types of
vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
,
pitch bends, etc. in order that, as in Korean traditional music, each musical tone is given a unique expression and development. Kim's Living Tones CD features her signature bi-cultural compositions ''Nong Rock'' for string quartet and ''komungo,'' ''Tchong'' for
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
and ''
daegum
The ''daegeum'' (also spelled ''taegum'', ''daegum'' or ''taegŭm'') is a large bamboo flute, a transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre. It is used in court, aristocratic, and f ...
, Piri Quartet'' for
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
A ...
/
English horn
The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...
with three ''piri''(s) and ''Yoeum'' for ''kagok'' singer and
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
.
In 1986 she began to be recognized as a composer when she was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet for her work ''Linking''. Jin Hi Kim is both composer and soloist for the following compositions: ''Nong Rock'' for the Kronos Quartet premiered at
Alice Tully Hall'','' Lincoln Center in 1992; ''Voices of Sigimse'' for
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in New York City. It is the largest organization of its kind in the country for chamber music. CMS's home is ...
premiered at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival 1996 with Tan Dun conducting; ''Eternal Rock'' (2001) for American Composers Orchestra premiered at Carnegie Hall; and ''Tilings'' (2013) for Either/Or Ensemble conducted by
Richard Carrick
Richard David Carrick (born 1971 in Paris, France) is an American composer, pianist and conductor. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition for 2015–16 while living in Kigali, Rwanda. His compositions are influenced by diverse sources in ...
premiered at
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founde ...
(NYC).
Kim also has introduced Korean tall and colorful barrel drums in the orchestra. ''Eternal Rock II'' (2006) was commissioned and premiered by the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose, its mission is to explore the connections between contemporary music and contemporary ...
, conducted by
Gil Rose Gil Rose is the founder and conductor of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), founder and General-Artistic Director of Odyssey Opera, Artistic Director of Monadnock Music Festival, Professor of Practice at Northeastern University, and Execu ...
with
Gerry Hemingway
Gerry Hemingway (born March 23, 1955) is an American drummer and composer.
Hemingway was a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet from 1983 to 1994. He has also performed with Ernst Reijseger, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard, Leo Smith, George E. ...
as soloist on drums. ''Monk Dance'' (2007) was commissioned and premiered by the
New Haven Symphony Orchestra
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1895 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the orchestra is ...
with Kim as soloist on the drums and
Jung-Ho Pak
Jung-Ho Pak (born February 4, 1962 in Burlingame, California) is an American conducting, symphony conductor. He was Artistic Director of the San Diego Symphony and of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, of which he is now Conductor Emeritus. He wa ...
conducting. Kim was Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with New Haven Symphony Orchestra (2009-2011) for which she premiered her commissioned ''Nori III'' for electric ''komungo'' and percussion quartet.
In 1998 Kim was featured composer for the Festival Nieuwe Muziek and ''Agate Slice'' was commissioned for
Xenakis Ensemble
The Xenakis Ensemble is a Dutch music ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Based in Middelburg, it is known as one of the few ensembles specializing in the works of the composer Iannis Xenakis. It is frequently con ...
(the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
). Kim also performed her compositions as soloist with
Empire State Youth Orchestra
Empire State Youth Orchestras (ESYO) is an ensemble of classical music performing groups aimed at providing talented young musicians with an opportunity to participate in group ensembles with other similar musicians. Based in the Capital Region of ...
,
Stanford Symphony,
KBS Symphony (
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
),
Zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
, and Kairos String Quartet (
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
).
Sociopolitical compositions
Responding to two wars involving American military in Asia, Jin Hi Kim composed two pieces, ''Child of War'' (2014) and ''One Sky'' (2005). A mixed choral piece, ''Child of War'' was dedicated to
Kim Phuc
Phan Thị Kim Phúc (; born April 6, 1963), referred to informally as the girl in the picture and the Napalm girl, is a South Vietnamese-born Canadian woman best known as the nine-year-old child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize–winning phot ...
who is renowned for ‘the girl in the picture' during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, was commissioned by John Marshall Lee and world premiered by The Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut and Kim, conducted by Carole Ann Maxwell at Quick Center,
Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...
. ''One Sky'' (2005), for chamber string orchestra and electric ''komungo,'' is dedicated to the reunification of North and South Korea, which was commissioned and performed by the Great Mountain Music Festival Orchestra, with Kim as soloist, at the
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...
(DMZ); Kim was featured on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
The World/Global Hit radio program directed by
Marco Werman
Marco Werman is an American radio personality. He is a host, reporter and senior producer in public radio. Werman is the host of Public Radio Exchange's The World (radio program), ''The World''. He took over as full-time host of the program on Ja ...
for her ''One Sky''; and the work was broadcast on
KBS TV.
In collaboration with artist
David Chung at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, Kim composed two soundtracks: ''Pyongyang'', a multimedia installation, and ''Koryo Saram'', an hour long documentary film about Korean refugees from Russia to
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
which was presented at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art, and the
Sackler Gallery
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. Th ...
(Washington, DC) and international film festivals including
Sãn Paulo International Film Festival,
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is a charitable cultural film festival organization located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that advocates Asian representations through media arts. Works include films and videos by East Asia, Southea ...
, San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival,
Vancouver Asian Film Festival
The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia for about 4–5 days in November. Launching in 1996, it is Canada’s oldest Asian film festival, exhibiting films and videos by North Ameri ...
and European Film Festival.
Multimedia performances
![Jin Hi Kim with electric komungo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Jin_Hi_Kim_with_electric_komungo.jpg)
Kim has created hour-long cross-cultural multimedia works that led to a new direction incorporating Asian cultural heritage interfaced with emerging Western interactive technology.
* ''Ghost Komungobot'' (2015): a true experience of mystic birds, for ''komungobot'', electric ''komungo'' and visual design, in collaboration with Alex Noyes (interactive sound design) and
Benton C Bainbridge
Benton C Bainbridge (born January 22, 1966) is an American media artist known for creating single channel video, interactive artworks, immersive installations and live visual performances with custom digital, analog and optical systems of his ow ...
(visual media) was co-produced by
Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center and CultureHub, The Art & Technology Center at La MaMa in New York City. ''Ghost Komungobot'' is a reflection of emerging aspects of American culture including robots, artificial intelligence, and explorations of multidimensional space in the universe.
* ''Digital Buddha'' (2007-2014): a cosmic meditation, for electric ''komungo'' and ''komungo'' with video art (of Benton C Bainbridge and Joel Cadman), was performed at Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004 and again in conjunction of 2014 Exhibition Silla; Korea's Golden Kingdom, Expo Cibao (
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
),
Expo Zaragoza (
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
),
Detroit Institute of Art
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project complete ...
, Korea Festival, Art & Ideas Festival (
New Haven, Conn.), Festival Salihara (
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
), Bandung International Digital Art Festival (Indonesia), Roulette (New York City, NY),
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
,
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
,
Stanford Pacific-Asia Music Festival and
Michigan University
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. ''Digital Buddha'' contrast both the neurotic intensity of American life with daily Asian
meditative practice.
* ''Touching The Moons'' (2000): a multi-media lunar ritual, interfaced electric ''komungo'', Indian ''
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల ...
'', a Korean ''
kagok'' singer, and an Indian ''
kathak
Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...
'' dancer with a computer-controlled MIDI system, sensors, and digital animation. ''Touching The Moons'', won Wolff Ebermann Prize of International Theater Institute (Germany), was commissioned and premiered by The Kitchen (NYC) and performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ''Touching The Moons'' challenges the duality of Asian mythology and American scientific exploration of the moon.
* ''Sanjo Ecstasy':'' a 90-minute improvisational form for electric ''komungo'', ''
gayageum
The ''gayageum'' or ''kayagum'' (in Korean 가야금, 伽倻琴 in Chinese characters) is a traditional Korean plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional K ...
'', ''
haegum
The ''haegeum'' () is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a vertical fiddle with two strings; derived from '' xiqin'', traditional Instrument of Xi people, which was introduced in Goryeo Dynasty through Northern Song. It has ...
'', ''janggo'',
drum set
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
, and
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
trance dancer, was premiered at the Sanjo Festival in
Jeonju
Jeonju () is the 16th largest city in South Korea and the capital of North Jeolla Province. It is both urban and rural due to the closeness of Wanju County which almost entirely surrounds Jeonju (Wanju County has many residents who work in Jeonju) ...
, South Korea in 2003.
* ''Dragon Bond Rite'' (1997): a masked dance and music, juxtaposed with diverse traditions from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, Indonesia, Korea,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
, and the United States. The work was commissioned and premiered at the
Japan Society and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
Cross-cultural improvisations
In 1986 Kim met
Henry Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...
and was quickly introduced to many other leading guitarists in the United States and Europe. Since then, she has improvised at many international festivals with Elliott Sharp,
Bill Frisell
William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...
,
Derek Bailey,
Hans Reichel
Hans Reichel (10 May 1949 – 22 November 2011) was a German improvisational guitarist, experimental luthier, inventor, and type designer.
Career
Reichel was born in Hagen, Germany. He began to teach himself violin at age seven, playing in the s ...
,
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
,
James Newton
James W. Newton (born May 1, 1953) is an American jazz and classical flutist.
Biography
He was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African-American music, inclu ...
,
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...
, Joseph Celli, Malcolm Goldstein,
Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black Art ...
,
Billy Bang
Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer.
Biography
Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a ...
,
William Parker,
Leroy Jenkins,
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald (21 April 1944 – 21 September 2002) was a German free jazz and free improvising double bassist and tubist.
Career
A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with many European ...
,
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey.
Career
Early in his career, Workman worke ...
,
Mark Dresser
Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer.
Career
Dresser was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. In the 1970s, he was a member of Black Music Infinity led by Stanley Crouch and performed w ...
,
Joëlle Léandre
Joëlle Léandre (born 12 September 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France) is a French double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in Contemporary classical music, new music and free improvisation.
In the field of contemporary music, she has perfor ...
,
Jane Ira Bloom
Jane Ira Bloom (born January 12, 1955) is an American jazz soprano saxophonist and composer.
Early years
Bloom was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joel and Evelyn Bloom. She began as a pianist and drummer, later switching to the alto saxophon ...
, Rüdiger Carl, Gerry Hemingway, and many other prominent figures in new music and avant-garde jazz.
For her own compositions and for collective creativity, she has improvised with traditional master artists from Asia and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
including
Kongar-Ol Ondar
Kongar-ool Borisovich Ondar ( tyv, Ондар Коңгар-оол Борис оглу, ''Ondar Konggar-ool Boris oglu'', , russian: Конгар-оол Борисович Ондар; 29 March 1962 – 25 July 2013) was a master Soviet and Russia ...
,
Min Xiao-Fen
Min Xiao-Fen () is a Chinese-American pipa player, vocalist, and composer known for her work in traditional Chinese music, contemporary classical music, and jazz.
Life
Min Xiao-Fen studied with her father, Min Jiqian (闵季骞), a music profess ...
,
Wu Man
Wu Man (; b. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, January 2, 1963) is a Chinese pipa player and composer. Trained in Pudong-style pipa performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, she is known for playing in a broad range of musical styles and i ...
, Samir Chatterjee,
Mayumi Miyata
is a Japanese player of the '' shō'', a traditional Japanese mouth organ.
Miyata was born on April 1, 1954, in Tokyo and graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music, where she majored in piano. While in school, she began studying '' gagaku ...
,
Vikku Vinayakram
Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram (born 11 August 1942), also known as Vikku Vinayakram, is an Indian percussionist. He is also known as the God of ''ghatam''. He plays Carnatic music with the ''ghatam'', an earthen pot, and is credited with popula ...
, Abraham Adzenyah, and
Mor Thiam
Mor Dogo Thiam (born May 22, 1941) is a Senegalese drummer, cultural historian, and entertainment consultant. His surname is pronounced "Chahm".
Career
Thiam recorded his first album, ''Ndende Safarra'', in 1974 with B.B. King and Nancy Wilson ...
.
Awards
Kim received a 2001
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...
Grants to Artists Award, which was created by John Cage and
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...
. She is a recipient of the composer fellowship from
Guggenheim Foundation,
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including:
* Zankel Hall at ...
,
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, MAP fund from
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
, McKnight Visiting Composer,
Mary Flagler Cary
Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder ...
Charitable Trust,
Meet The Composer
New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progra ...
, Wolff Ebermann Prize of International Theater Institute, and Connecticut Commission on the Arts. She received the artist residence fellowship for the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
),
Asian Cultural Council
The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing international cultural exchange between Asia and the U.S. and between the countries of Asia through the arts. Founded by John D. Rockefeller III in 1963, AC ...
to Japan and Indonesia,
Fulbright Special Project to
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, Djerassi Foundation (
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
), Composers Now Creative Residencies (Pocantico Center of
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...
), and Freeman Artist-In-Residence at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
.
Works about
An autobiography, ''Komungo Tango'' covering her 25-year performing career, was published (in the Korean language) in 2007.
A retrospective interview about Kim's major works was archived in ''
Oral History of American Music
Oral History of American Music (OHAM), founded in 1969, is an oral history project and archive of audio and video recordings consisting mainly of interviews with American classical and jazz musicians. It is a special collection of the Irving S. G ...
'' at
Yale University Library
The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 milli ...
.
Kim is featured in ''
Free Music Production (FMP)-In Retrospect'', published in Berlin, Germany.
References
External links
Official site
Interviews
Interview by Lonny Shavelson, Voice of AmericaInterview from PRI's ''The World-Global Hit''
Listening
Korean Music Radio October 2016
"Korean Music on Our Doorstep" from WNYC, 2003
"Jin Hi Kim Blends Komungo Styles with Western Music" Reported by Lonny Shavelson, PRI ''Global Hit'', 2005
Video
Jin Hi Kim, ''The Komungo'' BBC/PRI The World
Jin Hi Kim interview from ''Exclamation!'' program,
MBC TVJin Hi Kim interview from ''Heart to Heart'' program, Arirang TV
*
KBS television program
Han Nation' (한민족 리포트)
*
MBC TV national broadcast of the film ''100 Years of Sanjo''
Articles
* '
Asia as Silent Soul in the West'' (November 1999) Written by Jin Hi Kim, published by Asian American Renaissance for "Dancing Mosaic: A Pan-Asian Performance Showcase" Handbook, MN (1999); published by La Folio Magazine.
* '
'' (May 2000)
* '
'' (March 2003)
* Korean Identity in Cross-cultural Improvisation (October 2016) - Written by Jin Hi Kim Published by the Korea Society for World Music's Music and Culture Vol. 35
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Jin-hi
1957 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Contemporary classical music performers
South Korean classical composers
Seoul National University alumni
Women classical composers
Musicians from Incheon
Women in electronic music
20th-century women composers
21st-century women composers
Korean music