Seoyun Baek, piano
(Piano Junior division 1st Place & Best Interpretation of Korean Music, 12/6/2009)
Seoyun Baek, 9, began her piano studies with Kijung Han at the National School of Music for talented young musicians in Korea. Seoyun has been a student of artist faculty member Elaine Felder at MIC since coming to Chicago in September 2008. In December of 2008, Seoyun received a gold medal at the CAMTA Sonata-Sonatina Festival. She received first prize in the NSMTA Competition and an MIC Merit Scholarship award in May of 2009. Seoyun is currently a fourth grader at Ivy Hall Elementary School. When she is not practicing the piano, Seoyun enjoys playing the violin, reading, and swimming.
Her music was played by Ensemble Surplus (2007 in Buffalo, NY), the Aspen New Music Ensemble, and the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, among others. Recent awards include the Eisner Prize for conducting, the Renee Fisher Award, a fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival, the Korean National Music Composers Award, and the Pan Music Festival Award. Ms. Ahn also studied electronic/computer music with a focus on Asian traditional instruments. Her recent electronic pieces were played at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. |
“Nilnili” (2007 revision) – using the theme of the Korean tune “Nil-Ni-Lia”, this piece extends the song by juxtaposing chromatic scales or pentatonic clusters. The piece has the joyful lightness of the original tune, which is one of the most popular folk songs from the Kyunggi Province. “Ongheya” is based on a traditional folk song of the same name from the Kyungsan Province. This piece, written for children, won first place at the Renée B. Fisher Composer Awards and Competition. |
Jean Ahn is a PhD candidate in composition at the University of California at Berkeley. She was born in Korea and received her BA and MA from the Seoul National University in Korea. | Home | Video Index | |