고풀이[Ko-pu-ri] (2021)
for piano, tenor saxophone, and voice

Performed by Contemporary Art Music Project

Piano: Eunmi Ko
Tenor saxophone: Katherine Weintraub
Voice(Soprano): Jamie Jordan

Recorded by Kevin von Kampen

2022. 1. 17
Tampa, Florida (US)

This concert was supported by Arts Council Korea.

[Lyrics]
Pul-ro ka-ja 풀로 가자 (Let's solve it)
San-sin ni-ma 산신님아 (Dear god)
Ko-pu-ro man-ko-pul-ko 고풀어 만고풀고 (Let’s free thousands of pain) * ‘Ko’ means pain
Ha-neul-yi ul-ko 하늘이 울고 (The sky is crying)
Tang-yi ul-ko 땅이 울고 (The land is crying)

[Video link]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIF7sa2j3bg&t=1304s&ab_channel=ContemporaryArtMusicProject%28CAMP%29

고풀이[Ko-pu-ri] (2021)

Last movement (2023)
for soprano, saenghwang, and fixed audio

Soprano: Jamie Jordan
Saenghwang: Jisu Han

Recording: Han Lee & Eunsong Shin
Photo: Shin-joong Kim

[Project 1.5°C & 34.7°F with CAMP]
2023.8.4 ilshin hall (Seoul, South Korea)

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op78tSsY-gk

Last movement (2023)

Steps (Dangye) outlines my interactions with the Korean language as someone who a)is not a native Korean speaker, b) watches a lot of K-Dramas, listeners to a lot of K-Pop, and watches pansori on YouTuve with English subtitles, c) has tried many times and failed many times to learn the Korean language through podcasts, books, and the language app Duolingo. In the Korean language, I hear deep expressivity, melodic nuances, fragility, tenderness, and pointed consonants with grit! - Emily Koh

Live performance from Project 1.5 C & 34. 7 F at Ilshin Hall, Seoul on August 4, 2023. 

Performed here by
Percussion Kevin von Kampen
Soprano Jamie Jordan
Baritone-saxophone Katherine Weintraub
Recorder-keyboard Eunmi Ko 
Daegeum Jiyun Song 
Baritone-haegeum Heejin Yang

Steps by Emily Koh

let me love you

Gemini (2017) for prepared piano

a brief comment on the current state of insanity (Feb. 2017)

Karnavalito No. 1 is inspired by the distinctly Andean concept of mestizaje, as championed by Peruvian folklorist José Maria Arguedas (1911-1969), whereby cultures can co-exist without one subjugating another. Allusions to the rhythms and harmonies of the mountain music of my mother’s homeland of Perú abound in this boisterous work, albeit freely transformed in the blender of my personal imaginations. Karnavalito No. 1 is dense in its virtuosity, with stylistic nods to the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, a music hero of mine. - notes by Gabriela Frank
Panoramic Recordings (PAN901). Release date, March 1, 2019.

Shift

Karnavalito No.1

The idea of the piece formed after observing a collection of art from the Deviantart collective. One of the works listed was Natasha Levandoski's 'Trust Me' which triggered the concept of the work. The piece reflects on some of the artists that I have encountered over the last few years. The primary focus of the work is the exploration of artistic style and detail through rhythmic and harmonic densities. Each miniature selects specific aspects of each piece of art and explores it musically.

I. Sunset Over Court (Patrick Connolly)
II. Trust Me (Natasha Levandoski)
III. Spotlight: RVA (Paul Donahue)
IV. Rising (Vivienne Lee)

Performed by Laura Silva (Athens, OH) and recorded at 3 Elliot Studio with Josh Antonuccio
---
Recently, 'Art Miniatures' won the Hatz Award in the recent NFMC Composition Competition (2019). In 2018, 'Art Miniatures' was awarded a prize in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Collegiate Composition Contest (OFMC). The piece has been performed extensively by Laura Silva, namely at the West Fork New Music Festival, SCI Region V Conference, the OFMC Music Conference, sOUndings, and both mine and Laura's Master's recitals.

Art Miniatures

The Chaconne is a grand masterpiece of classical music, and to learn and perform it is also something of a journey, a rite of passage. It is akin to running an ultramarathon, thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, or some other large challenge at the end of which a person is transformed and developed. I was inspired to create a personalized transcription of this piece first by saxophonist Chien-Kwan Lin, and then again later by the brilliant spirit and mastery of harpsichordists Kris Bezuidenhout and Skip Sempe. This is the largest leap in my pandemic-project, a journey of internalizing all of the partitas by J.S. Bach, and eventually the sonatas as well. Please enjoy this brilliantly mastered and captured recording, engineered by Eric Messick, our little gift to the world during strange and challenging times.

Here is some additional information about the Chaconne, written by Betsy Schwarm and published online:

"In Bach’s Chaconne, the basic theme is four measures long, short and simple enough to allow for 64 variations. From a stern and commanding mood at the beginning, Bach gradually increases the complexity of his theme, mixing in various compositional effects. Some twists upon the theme are spacious and grand; others flow nimbly. Fast runs and large interval skips are frequent, requiring much dexterity from the performer. Bach also calls forth changes in emotional intensity, as some variations are dominated by long notes and others by many, more urgent short notes. Bach builds up his work over 256 measures, finally restating the theme at the end with new, even stronger harmonies."

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chaconne-by-Bach

Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor, by J.S. Bach (soprano saxophone)

2-channel electronic, fixed-media.
Loíza, Puerto Rico, December 25, 2020 - January 2, 2021.
"drink rain from the pulse at my throat" - text excerpted from Kim Addonizio's "Muse".

Steps by Emily Koh

Eunmi Ko 1