August 2, 1999

UCSC composer will represent her native country in two upcoming commissions

By Barbara McKenna

Life is busy for composer and UCSC assistant professor of music Hi Kyung Kim, who has six separate commissions to complete over the next several years. Among them are two in which she is representing her native South Korea: a commission by the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota (CMSM) and cellist Yo-Yo Ma commemorating the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in 1937 and a commission from one of South Korea's greatest living poets, Ko'Un, who has asked Kim to put to music his poem, "The Isle of Eeo."

UCSC assistant professor of music Hi Kyung Kim Photo: r.r. jones

Of the two, the CMSM commission is foremost on Kim's mind as it will premier in the 2000-01 season. The idea to focus on the massacre came from cellist Yo-Yo Ma and CMSM artistic director Young-Nam Kim. During the Japanese takeover of the Chinese city of Nanjing, approximately 300,000 surrendered soldiers and civilian Chinese lost their lives, and more than 20,000 women were raped.

As a way of bringing in a the new millennium, Ma and Kim thought it would be fitting to recognize the tragedy and find a way to heal some of the wounds it caused. The season also keeps with the Asian tradition of inviting dead ancestors home to offer them peace and resolution.

"The idea is to generate a peaceful reconciliation," explains Kim. "There are still tensions from that incident and music is, perhaps, one way to heal those rifts."

The scope of the project is large: the CMSM will produce five commissioned pieces by composers representing China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the United States.

"I feel enormously honored," said Kim. "This project will involve some of the world's most exceptional artists--one can only dream about working with some of these performers." Among them are clarinetist Burt Hara, pianist Gilbert Kalish, and members of the Pro Arte String Quartet.

After the series premieres in Minnesota in the spring of 2001, it will tour to major cities in Asia and the U.S., including Beijing; Nanjing; Tai Pei; Hong Kong; Seoul; Tokyo; Washington, D.C.; New York; and San Francisco. A performance in Santa Cruz is also planned.

Hi Kyung Kim is currently in the research stage for this project, but she has already envisioned the ensemble that will play--it will comprise violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and percussion.

"This is a really meaningful project," she said. "It's a real challenge because I feel that I'm representing my country. We suffered so much under Japanese control for 36 years. It's not just the music I have to consider, but this history of oppression and struggle."

Kim will also be thinking about her country as she works on the commission for Ko'Un. A former Buddhist and prodemocracy dissident, Ko'Un spent much time in government jails for expressing his ideals.

"His poem, 'The Isle of Eo,' is about a legendary island," Kim explained. "It does not really exist, but it is an idea for people to recall when they are desperate and hopeless. The island is paradise and they can dream about it and find hope."

The poem itself has its own story of hope. Ko'Un wrote it sometime in the late '60s or early '70s, overwhelmed by the poverty and desolation of his country in the aftermath of the Korean war, as well as his own personal desolation. The poem was destroyed by the poet himself, along with many others, during the hardest time of his life, a time when he also tried to commit suicide.

But, the poem was rediscovered when a German poet approached Ko'Un at a conference with an English translation of the poem. The German hoped to get the poem from Ko'Un in Korean from which he would make a German translation.

Along with these projects, Kim will be preparing her other four commissions and teaching UCSC music students as well. The prospect doesn't overwhelm her. "You just have to do them one at a time--what else can you do," she asks with a laugh.

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