February House Concert: Poem for Moon Jar

KCCUK’s February House Concert is presented in collaboration with Han Collection London.

The House Concert, taking place at 7.30 pm on 25th February at Angela Burgess Hall, Royal Academy of Music, will feature songs based on the poem for Moon Jar written by Shinuh Lee, a professor in composition at Seoul National University College of Music. This concert will be the world premiere – if you are interested in Korean art, you will not want to miss it.

As the music is inspired by Korean porcelain, throughout the concert you will see Korean vases (Moon Jar), providing a rich, multi-sensory experience. In addition, Professor Lee will explain how the songs were written and the inspiration the vases provided her.

As part of the concert, artists will also be playing Korean court music pieces Boheoja and Caprice no. 2 Jeokbyeok arranged for Viola and Piano (also arranged by Shinuh Lee). We will also be presenting the Romanian Folk Music of Béla Bartók and briefly exploring the differences in characteristics of Western and Eastern folk music.

This performance is ideal for those who seek new experiences. You will expose your ears to new music and your brains to a greater appreciation for said music.

Programme

Korean Court Music: Boheoja – Ode to Moon Jar Arranged for viola and piano by Shinuh Lee & Sae-ahm Kim (2023)

Shinuh Lee: Poem for Moon Jar I & II for viola, piano and singing bowls (2022-23)

Béla Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances Arranged for viola and piano by Alan Arnold

Shinuh Lee: Caprice No. 2 Jeokbyeok for viola and piano (2020/2022)

About the performers

Shinuh Lee / Composer

It has been said that Shinuh Lee is a composer who ponders seriously about the origins and nature of human existence and, therefore, her works are the result of such thoughts. Lee’s reflection touches on the universal pain and emotion of heartbreak of humans in the secular world, but she is a composer who is ultimately finding the consolation and language of healing in regard to these things. The composition of Psalm 20 for orchestra marked a turning point in Lee’s life. This is a piece which bathes in a unique Eastern colour through a transformative use of heterophony. It is based on her research into Psalms and ancient Hebrew music, and her experience on this research motivated her subsequent pieces. Perhaps most significantly this work begins to explore the very nature and origin of human existence, and sets into a motion a preoccupation that follows Lee’s music to the present day. This preoccupation begins to emerge in Invisible Hands for violin and orchestra (2000/2002) and An Open Door for strings (2004) intensified in her later works. Her works are being performed by many orchestras, ensembles and soloists including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Asko Ensemble, Ixion Ensemble, Ensemble Opus and Seoul Virtuosi. Recently her Symphonic Poem Yeomillak commissioned by Sejong City, was performed by Sejong Soloists at many major venues including Seoul Arts Center and Carnegie Zankel Hall. Lee studied composition with Sukhi Kang at Seoul National University and later with Michael Finnissy at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the University of Sussex. She won many prizes including the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Composers and the Musical Times Composers’ Competition. She was also awarded the Korean Composition Award, AhnIckTae Composition Prize, Korean Race Composition Award, Nanpa Music Award, and Young Artist Today Award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Korea. She has been a professor in composition at College of Music, Seoul National University since 1999, and has also worked as an artistic director to Studio2021 since 2003. She was appointed as ARAM(Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) from the Royal Academy of Music in 2019

Hwayoon Lee / Viola

Hwayoon Lee was born in Seoul. She began playing the violin at the age of five, switched to the viola at nine and developed the basis of her viola playing from the great European tradition, studying with Sang-Jin Kim, primarily through the exercises of Tibor Varga. Since the age of 13, she has been a popular violist in chamber music concerts and enjoys joining her teacher Sang-Jin Kim in his concerts. Since 2013, she has regularly toured with the ensemble of star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. Masterclasses with Yuri Bashmet, Tabea Zimmermann, Steven Isserlis and others and numerous prizes are testimony to her masterly effortless technique and warm musical radiance. From 2015 to 2019, she studied with Prof. Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Akademie (as a scholarship holder of the Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation). Since 2021, she has been continuing her studies with Prof. Hartmut Rohde at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. (Graduation: concert exam) From 2001 to 2003, she learned the art of Pansori from the master Jung-Hae Oh. Today, she has replaced her voice with her instrument bringing the expressiveness of this “art of storytelling” to the concert hall. She also plays the gayageum, the traditional Korean arched board zither. Hwayoon Lee regularly performs with international orchestras, including the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra (Krzysztof Penderecki), the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Manfred Honeck), the hr Symphony Orchestra (Gregory Vajda), the Moscow Soloists, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra (Yuri Bashmet), the Munich Symphony Orchestra (Ken-David Masur), the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin (Michael Francis), the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra (Joana Mallwitz) and the Philharmonie Baden-Baden. Hwayoon Lee performs on a viola by Gasparo de Salò dating from 1590 on loan from the Samsung Foundation.

Eun-E Goh / Piano

Eun-E Goh is a pianist, musicologist and a journalist. She was a winner of International Charles Hennen competition in Holland and made a highly claimed debut at the South Bank Centre as a Park Lane Artist. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music for her undergraduate and Masters, her particular interest in contemporary music formed through collaborations with distinguished composers including Ligeti and Schnittke. This led her to research further about the ‘Notation and its Limits of Interpretation’ at the Goldsmoths college. She is inquisitive about the relationship between the creative process and its interpretation through the sociological and humanistic aspects. Her cross disciplinary interest coupled with her Korean roots resulted in unique concerts with a wide spectrum of artists ranging from traditional Korean music performers, visual artists and dancers both in Europe and Korea. She was a regular contributer for Korean music magazines, newspapaers and Radio. She is a member of the contemporary music ensemble ‘Phenomena’in London and ‘Pathway’ ensemble based in Korea.