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As a composer originally from South Korea who favors Western musical languages as a medium for composition, it has always been my passion to create works that integrate my Korean culture in some way. Sometimes I combine both musical languages, and other times, as found in many of my recent compositions, Korean cultural influences serve as the inspiration for my works written in Western music style. Having two different cultural perspectives allows me to see one culture as an abundant source of creations from the point of view of the other. It naturally leads me to find ways to embrace both to establish my own musical voice. Scissors for Orchestra is an extension of this attempt to experiment. I was inspired by the Scissors Dance, a Korean traditional dance performed by taffy sellers in farmer’s markets to attract attention from people. The dancers use a special type of scissors to cut the taffy as well as to create percussive sound while performing the rhythmical dance. The dance tends to be showy and dynamic in nature. For example, the dancers throw the scissors high up in the air, spin themselves around, and catch them. Also, to create musically exhilarated sound, the dancers employ Jangdan, a Korean traditional rhythmic mode. Throughout the piece, I did not necessarily intend to be either illustrative or programmatic. Rather, I see this piece as an aural re-interpretation and imagination of the original inspiration. However, I did try to highlight both visual and auditory characteristics of the dance. Jangdan, the array of different, repeated rhythmic patterns, affects in division and progression of the rhythm throughout the piece while acting as a structural framework. Also I aim to bring out the percussive and metallic nature of the instrument, scissors, by using various percussion instruments. Fast runs will also bring up the image of the scissors thrown in the air. The pitch material is broadly atonal yet the progressions are mostly linear to be more accessible. I hope the listeners relate to energetic and vigorous atmosphere while enjoying rhythmic drive with lively gestures.

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“Scissors” Fantasia Toccata for solo piano, written in 2017, was commissioned by Dr. April Kim, faculty pianist at St Olaf College and premiered in February 2018.

The piece was inspired by the Scissors dance, a traditional Korean dance performed by taffy sellers in the farmer’s market to attract people’s attention. “Scissors” highlights the percussive nature of the instrument, while portraying visual and auditory characteristics of the dancer and the scissors.

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Rain Will Come What May for soprano and pianowas composed in 2013 based on a poem by Kansas City-based writer Jose Faus.

The poem depicts the nature of love in the form of a Haiku. According to Faus, like other Haiku poetry, this poem concerns the change of seasons and includes both a drought and the looked-for rainfall. Love is likened to a garden. In the first and the second stanzas, the practical and spiritual worlds tell the gardener not to plant because the soil is coarse. However, he wants to believe that love will blossom nonetheless, a reflection on love’s irrational nature. The thought of a cactus still growing in the dessert without enough rain confirms the gardener’s convictions. In the last stanza, the cactus that blooms in the sunlight believes that rain will eventually come, so it does not need to fret. Likewise, love does not need perfect conditions to blossom and thus place the spiritual and practical world in contradiction. The last line, “Rain will come what May” is a play on the adage about April showers bringing May flowers.

In setting the song, I generally followed the structure of the poem; however, a few words, such as “hope” and “rain,” were repeated to intensify particular dramatic moments.

Harmonies and intervals employed in this song could give the impression that this song is tonal; however, the extended harmonies and tensions rarely progress as they do in functional harmonies. Instead, they shift from one to another without expected resolutions. This creates unexpected, wondering, dreamy, and sometimes unanticipated sounds. In addition, the dotted bar lines without any time signature allows for the presentation of an extremely free rhythmic declamation, a trait common among many of my atonal works.

The piano not only provides the requisite harmonic background but it also adds a distinctive atmosphere and color through gestures such as arpeggios, grace notes, and staccato notes followed by lingering overtones. Overtones are among the primary musical materials of this piece and are often created by playing muted clusters in the piano’s lower register before playing the actual notes in the middle and higher registers.

Rain Will Come What May is dedicated to soprano Alexandra Rolfs and her family in gratitude for being incredibly supportive and loving.

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This variation is based on a nine-measure simple theme. The theme has basic harmonic structure used through the entire piece, and also includes contrapuntal melodic elements and a few musical gestures that are developed in the variations.

Hymn mainly highlights the harmonic progression of the theme in hymn-like setting with simple rhythm.

Staccato features staccato gesture from the theme, and simplifies the harmonies into intervals. It opens with the contrast between very low and high registers of the piano and the distance between the registers gets less significant towards the end of the variation.

Arpeggiation has arpeggios of broken chords from the theme and a few trills. Notes with the tenuto indicate the melodic line hidden in the arpeggio gestures and should be brought out.

Fuga develops the melodic idea of the theme. This variation is not in an exact fuga form but it has imitation between individual voices using counterpoint.

High features the high register of the piano based on the harmonic progression of the theme with fast shimmering gestures, trills, and tremolos.

Low, in contrast, stays in the lower register of the piano with the combination of bass melodic lines and some staccato notes.

Octaves is written for consecutive octave progression to be played by both hands. It is lyrical yet rhythmic showing both harmonic and melodic elements from the theme. This variation leads the piece into the grand finale.

The Finale is the last variation of this piece. Overall, bell-like chords are used all over the register of the piano. The huge chords follow the harmonic progression of the theme, and the top notes of the chords carry the melodic idea of the theme. The intervals of the lowest two notes in this variation are mainly the seventh.

The pianist may choose the order of variations freely except for the last two, Octave and The Finale. These two should be played at the end. Also High should always follow Fuga. Other than that, the pianist can decide the order according to his or her preference. All the variations should be played Attacca.

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Composed in 2013, Arirang Fantasie for String Quartet was inspired by Arirang, the most beloved folk song in Korea. This song has been handed down through tradition for several hundreds of years allowing diverse variations. The elaboration of melody, creation of verse lyrics, and various rhythmic modes reflecting regional distinct features have all appealed to diverse artists.

To me, the improvisational quality of the song and the deep resentment behind it have encouraged my appetite for composing this piece.

The string quartet was the perfect tool to reflect my personal imagination of the bitter sorrow and wit carried in the original song. While the original tune is reflected to some extent in this composition, nothing is directly borrowed or quoted.

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Lament for the Everlasting Flower was written for and premiered by Ensemble Dal Niente in the 2015 Red Note New Music Festival in Normal, IL.

The rose of Sharon, called Mugunghwa, is the national flower of Korea and it means the everlasting flower. After the war, Korea’s economic growth was remarkable. However, the rapid growth left serious side effects; materialism, considerable pressure for education, immature democracy, and most of all, the highest suicide rate in the world. Suicide is the number one cause of death for individuals between the ages of 10 and 30, and the second cause for the rest of the population. I believe suicide is homicide by society, not just an individual mental problem. There is not much I can do here as a composer, but weep for the deceased, weep with the bereaved and let the world hear this painful cry.

This piece includes the contrast between the intense and chaotic section depicting anguish and the soft and delicate section portraying melancholy. The reoccurring rhythm throughout the slow section is cited from Sangyeosori, which is traditionally sung by coffin bearers at funerals.

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This composition was inspired by three poems by three different poets. As the title indicates, all three poems used in this song cycle are based on the same theme: stones. However, each poet found unique poetic significance in these objects. I employed different musical materials to portray the differing moods of each poem.

In his poem “Stone”, Charles Simic describes a contrast between a poetic narrator and the outside world. I conveyed this contrast with two different musical characters – a rather slow and lyrical melodic line and a comparatively fast and dramatic recitative.

Simon Ortiz’s “The Serenity in Stones” is very peaceful and somewhat fantastic. I chose to set this with relatively quiet and dreamy sounds and with consonant harmonies.

The third song is based on Archibald MacLeish’s poem “The Rock in the Sea”.

This poem contains a great deal of irony and confusion. I portrayed this with wandering arpeggio patterns in the piano part, ambiguous harmonies, and clusters

Throughout the song cycle, I mixed tonal materials with my atonal language to create a contemporary sound. Tonal harmonies such as triads and extended chords keep this piece rather accessible; however, I used these materials in an unconventional way.

In this piece, these chords rarely progress as they do in the traditional functional harmony. Here they shift from one to another without required resolution, creating rather unexpected moments.

Some of the techniques and notations from 20th century music such as clusters, playing with forearms, and scoring without bar lines also helped me to create a new and freer sound.

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