CRS presents Azalea, an intimate evening of music composed by Ki Young Kim and performed by Quiet Revolution (musicians Ki Young Kim and gamin of Korea) in the award-winning White Room at CRS on Friday, July 27, 2018 at 8 pm. Azalea is the inaugural program of the Crossing Boundaries — Echoes of Korea — Concert Series curated by Gamin.

Ki Young (claves and voice) and Gamin (saenghwang and piri) are renowned for carrying Korean traditional music into the present, inciting an irresistible dialog between classic and contemporary. “Gamin is…a true pioneer and innovator, leading these instruments in exciting new directions” — Ralph Samuelson (senior advisor, Asian Cultural Council).

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the concert, and are available online, by phone (212-677-8621), and at CRS. Tickets for students and seniors (65+) with valid ID are available at the door for $15. Seating is limited.

The Program
All works are composed or transcribed by Ki Young Kim.

Azaleas (saenghwang, poetry)
Azaleas by poets Sowol Kim and Dong Yeop Shin. This poetry symbolizes Korean sorrow, regret and despair. Submissiveness becomes strength, surrender becomes hope. Through meditative musical phrases, transcendance grows.

The Mountain’s Angry Cry (piri solo)
Based on a traditional folk song. One sings standing on the mountain and competes with the spirit of the mountain. Today the song becomes a weeping lament because the mountain has become bare and dry.

Speed and Silence (saenghwang, claves, voice)
This composition is inspired by the picture of a city, quiet and peaceful, prior to gentrification.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES — ECHOES OF KOREA will provide musicians from Korea with space to experiment with the new, to collaborate across genres, cultures and disciplines, and to explore new ways of using creative communication to facilitate a shared practice of presence. The goal will be to dissolve boundaries between performers and audiences, the traditional and contemporary, classical and experimental, Korea and the world. Participants in the series are encouraged to incorporate meditation, improvisation, and collaborations with visual and movement-based artists as well as musical artists from different traditions. Performances will take place in the award-winning White Room (named by Homes to Love as one of nine yoga studios around the world “that achieve design nirvana”) at CRS designed in 2015 by Clouds AO.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES — ECHOES OF KOREA will be curated by gamin  (piri, taepyeonso, saenghwang). Two future programs of the Crossing Boundaries — Echoes of Korea — Concert Series are currently scheduled:

Friday, September 14, 2018 at 8 pm
Yut Nori:  Contemporary conceptual art and music
composed by Hyojee Kang

Friday, November 9, 2018 at 8 pm
7 words chanting_Yeongsanheosang:  Korean traditional music concert
piri, saenghwang by gamin
haegeum by Minkyung Park

About the Artists

gamin

gamin is a yisuja of the Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46 for piri and daechita. gamin is one of the most celebrated piri, taepyeongso (Korean traditional oboe family) and saengwhang (ancient wind-blow instrument) performers in Korea today. From 2000 to 2010, she was a member and assistant principal player of the Contemporary Gukak Orchestra at the National Gukak Center, the hub for training and preserving Korean traditional music. Today, she experiments and expands her musical realm to interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with international artists. She was a recipient of residency program grant from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and Asian Cultural Council (ACC) of Rockefeller Foundation, has toured for lecture concerts at Harvard University, Dartmouth University, University of Pennsylvania and etc. She received her DMA in traditional music at Seoul National University and published the book “Advanced Techinuqes of PIRI” by Minsokwon, in Seoul.

*yisuja is a title designated to someone who mastered a course study in an intangible cultural asset of Korea. jeonsuja is a lower title.

http://www.gamin-music.com/

Ki Young Kim

Dubbed a borderless musician, Ki Young has moved in and out of Genres and across international boundaries, while collaborating with dancers, theater directors, visual artists in various fields and forms. He is the founder of CMB 567 ( Contemporary Music Band 567), a groups of four composers and seven musicians dedicated to exploring the interaction among various contemporary korean and other asian music and art forms. He lives in New York.