Lee, Grace Jong Eun - Composer & Kayagum Soloist

The Kayagum is one of the most representative and best known of traditional Korean musical instruments. It has twelve silk strings and movable bridges spanning the length of its wooden board, which is made of paulownia wood. There are two techniques of playing: the left-hand is used by pressing the strings and its finger movements can be made various types of movements such as shaking, bending, vibrating the strings. The right-hand is used in plucking or stromping the strings. The tone of the Kayagum is soft, delicate and subtle. This instrument was developed in the Southern Kingdom in the 3rd century.

Biography

Grace Jong Eun Lee is a composer and a performer dedicated to inter-culturalism. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the University of British Columbia (Piano and Composition). Currently, she teaches the Kayagum (Korean Zither) and new Korean music as well as directs and performs in the School of Music Korean Ensemble at the Vancouver Community College. Also, she is an Associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre. Her compositions have been performed at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and for the Canadian Society of Asian Arts, Festival Vancouver, Socan, and the CBC Orchestra. She has also organized a concert for the Korean Heritage College of North America at the UBC Music Recital Hall. She performed one of the Kayaygum pieces, Revolution of the Dharma Wheel, at the General Motors APEC and on Canadian Rogers TV in 1997, at the Korean Veterans Association (Victoria) in 2001, Pong-San Mask Dance Workshop (Korean Mask Dance Music and History) lecture for the UBC Theatre Department, Kayagum Concerto for the Sacred Music Festival Vancouver 2001 and the Socan Foundation for the Special Workshop for New Music. Also, she is the 2nd winner at the Overseas Korean Traditional Arts Contest (2002). As a Canadian composer representative, her piece was chosen in the International Festival of Women in Music Today 2003 (April 8-12) in Seoul, Korea. CBC Radio (May, 2005) (Music of Grace J.E. Lee). Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra (Sept, 2005)(Grace J.E. Lee's Canzone Senza Parole) and Vancouver Symphony Ochestra (May, 2006). Her compositions reflect a combination of Korean, Chinese (Erhu) and Western instruments (flute, clarinet, piano, string and percussion). She is strongly influenced by the sounds of nature and often uses them in her works to convey the East Asian sense of space and emptiness. Her interest in playing both traditional and contemporary music and composing for the Kayagum blossomed in Canada. She had a concert at UBC Chen Cenre and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York(2007) and Carnegie Hall in New York (2008) (Music of Grace Jong Eun Lee). She also received Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Award (Best Cultural Music Award) from Korea in 2008.She also had a concert at the Christ Church Catheral ("Enchanted Music of Grace Jong Eun Lee-A Co- Presentation of The Cathedral Guild For The Arts) in Aug.2009.