BIOgraphy
As a Korean-born composer who was educated in Korea and the United States, Jeeyoung Kim's music harmonizes the unique cultural aspects from Eastern and Western traditions. Her music has been critically acclaimed: “...Heroes for orchestra was an efficient and attractive calling card. The piece moved from gentle wind melodies through flowing string passages to end with rousing brass fanfares and clattering percussion,” Steve Smith, The New York Times; “...Miserere for SATB, [was] a powerful work, from the quiet opening with Tibetan bowls to create what is considered the sound of Heaven in Korea, to the two solos sung in a traditional style called Jeong-Ga, to the bold middle and ending sections,” New York Classical Review; and, when describing Tryst, written for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Joshua Kosman of The San Francisco Chronicle stated, “Even to the untrained ear, there was no mistaking the elegance and poignancy of this music.”
Two pieces, Tryst and Ancient Bell, both were commissioned and toured worldwide by The Silk Road Ensemble lead by Yo-Yo Ma. Her opera, From My Mother’s Mother was commissioned and premiered in November 2012 by The Houston Grand Opera. Her orchestra piece, Heroes, was performed at the Yeo-Su EXPO in Korea and at Tanglewood in June, 2012.
Ms. Kim was awarded the Bunting Fellowship from Harvard University, and in addition, has won awards and recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM), National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA), Meet the Composer, Dale Warland Singers New Music Competition, American Music Center, Seattle Creative Orchestra Competition, Jerome Foundation, Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship at Yale University, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Aspen Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
She has received numerous commissions and her music has been performed by many chamber orchestras and ensembles in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including: the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) Orchestra, Chanticleer, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Korean Traditional Music Orchestra, Contemporary Gugak Orchestra, Su-Won Philharmonic Orchestra, Dae-Jeon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea, Empire State Youth Orchestra, Dale Warland Singers, Su-Won Civic Choir, De ereprijs in the Netherlands, Music At the Anthology led by Philip Glass, Azure Ensemble, Ethos Percussion Group, the American Composers Forum, Wu Man, Dong-Suk Kang, Seoul Spring Festival, and Contemporary Music Ensemble of Korea.
Ms. Kim studied composition in Yonsei University (B.M.) in Korea and Indiana University (M.M.). She received a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University. She was awarded the Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University, where she composed and researched Asian music and philosophy.