Justin Lee, an 12-year-old, attends 7th grade at Twin Grove middleschool in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Justin has been studying violin with Betty Haag-Kuknke at the Betty Haag Academy of Music since 6 years old. He has been participating many competitions including honorable mention in the 2012 Confucius Music Festival Junior II Division, 1st place and outstanding in 2009, 2012 Granquist Music Competitions. Justin is a member of the Magical Strings of Youth and has traveled on tour with them to Los Angeles where they played at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2010. He also received scholarship for Rising Star Award at Betty Haag Academy in 2012.

He has been performing at North Shore Chamber Music Festival and also a member of Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a member of IMEA music festival in 2011 and 2012 as well.

Besides playing violin, Justin enjoys reading and playing tennis and soccer. He also enjoys participating math club and scholastic bowl club at the school.

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Dong-il Sheen was born in Seoul, Korea. He was described as “a quiet revolutionary who broke the barrier of classical music” (Culture and Me magazine 2006). In a 2002 article in the New Music Composition and Critics journal, Professor Young-Han Heo of the Korean National University of Arts wrote, “Dong-il Sheen is a composer who filled the huge void in our lives with a new style of creative music. He explored music style that was ignored by other composers and now firmly established his own style.”

Mr. Sheen has been active in writing music in many different styles, including western European music, traditional Korean music, children’s music, film soundtracks, and musicals. He graduated Seoul National University and received his Master’s degree at the New York University Graduate School of Music. He collaborated with pianist Jung Hee Han in the album Blue Bicycle, which later received a critical acclaim. He started the new style music movement “Han-ma-dang” and “Music Composers-ma-dang.”

In 2002, Mr. Sheen collaborated with writer-illustrator Jae-soo Liu in the CD-Book Yellow Umbrella, which was named as one of the 10 best illustrated books by the New York Times. Japanese pianist Takako Takahashi made a CD of Mr. Sheen’s music in Japan.

He received numerous awards including the Best Young Artists of the Year award from the Korean Ministry of Culture & Tourism in 2003, and the Grand Prize of the Year in composers and conductors categories from the Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS) in 2004.

Mr. Sheen is a board member of the Association of Korean Musicians, President of the Composer’s Association (Jahk-gok-ma-dang), and Co-president of the Children’s Arts Production. Currently he is a lecturer at the Korean National University of Arts and Seoul National University Graduate School of Music.

Yang San Do
by Dong-Il Sheen

Yang-San-Do is a folk song from the Kyunggi Province. It originated during the late Chosun dynasty, sung by construction workers during the renovation of the Kyung Bok Palace in Seoul. Later on this tune was developed into a sun sori (folk song), sung with many variations of the verses. The rhythm of the song is in three beats.

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