The Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra ( ko, 숙명여대 가야금 연주단) is a musical ensemble from

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 ...

. It was formed in 1999 by music students at

Sookmyung Women's University Sookmyung Women’s University () is a private university in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1906, Sookmyung is Korea’s first royal private educational institution for women. The university's name is derived from the Hanja charact ...

. The ensemble comprises up to 24 ''

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 ...

'', often accompanied by Korean and Western percussion instruments. The group is often led by a conductor, and its performances sometimes features soloists on instruments such as the ''

haegeum 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 ...

'', as well as

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

groups and

breakdance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

groups such as Last For One. The group performs music ranging from interpretations of ancient '' cheongak'' repertoire, to contemporary compositions by Korean composers, arrangements of Russian, South American, and Japanese folk songs, and arrangements of

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

songs and Western classical works such as the Pachelbel Canon. The Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra has released 12 CDs.

Discography

* 2000 - Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra * 2001 - Gayasong * 2003 - Let it be * 2005 - Oriental Move Of Gayageum * 2006 - Lovely Gayageum * 2006 - For You (Best Collection) * 2007 - Singing & Dancing (Single) * 2007 - Nobody know Tears (Single) * 2011 - Water Garden * 2012 - Sweet yawning * 2012 - Lovely Christmas (EP) * 2017 - Nostalgia

External links

Official website

South Korean orchestras Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in South Korea {{Orchestra-stub