About the Composer:

Hyun Kyung Kim is on the Computer Music Faculty of the Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She just obtained doctoral studies in computer music composition at the University of Maryland in May 2005. Previously she received a bachelor and masters in music composition from Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and pursued Music Technology studies at New York University. She has worked professionally in recording facilities and as an international sales consultant at Harman Consum er Group in New York.

About the Music:

“Blue Bird” (파랑새) is based on traditional Korean melody “Sae-ya Sae-ya Parang Sae-ya”. It is for a piano solo and composed in a variation format. It starts with four measures of introduction and each variation is about eight measures long and explores various styles, such as musette, nocturnal, canon, arpeggios, and waltz. “Blue Bird” consists a original melody of “Sae-ya Sae-ya Parang Sae-ya”.and each section has clear contour of the traditional melody. Thus the performer should bring the melody out clearly from the other accompaniments or inner harmony materials. Since each variation section has its own style, there are couple of abrupt tempo changes. However performer should either speed up or slow down few measures before the each section, so the flow of the music would not be interrupted and connected smoothly.

Emma Michalak Emma is 11 years old and a student at the Lycée Francais de Chicago. Her dream is to become a concert pianist and someday perform at Carnegie Hall. She has been studying piano with Dr. Soo Young Lee for six years. She enjoys swimming, theatre, reading and travel.