Sejong Cultural Society 20th Anniversary Concert Program by Sejong Cultural Society

From the Presidents of the Sejong Cultural Society Greetings, With great honor and pleasure, we extend a warm welcome to each and every one of you as we gather to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sejong Cultural Society. Two decades ago, the Sejong Cultural Society embarked on a mission to enhance awareness and understanding of Korea’s cultural heritage among people in the United States. Our focus has always been on achieving this goal through contemporary creative and fine arts. In these two decades, our organization has not only met but exceeded expectations, achieving remarkable success. Since our establishment in 2004, we have experienced steady growth, marked by numerous accomplishments. Our initiatives, including the writing competition, music competition, sijo workshops, music concerts inspired by sijo, sijo presentation seminars, and the publication of the Sijo reference book, have tirelessly promoted the awareness and understanding of Korea’s rich cultural heritage. This journey wouldn’t have been possible without the steadfast support and encouragement from our donors and funding agencies. We also recognize the crucial role played by participating teachers, students, and their families. In particular, our talented composers who created music with Korean themes, used as required repertoire in our music competition, have been instrumental in our success. Collectively, we have achieved the monumental feat of collecting 150 music pieces in the past two decades. As we look ahead, we remain committed to putting forth our best efforts to fulfill our mission and continue to bridge Korean and American cultures for many more years. A special acknowledgment is due to the Executive Director, Chairman of the Board, all officers, the Board of Directors, planning committee members, advisory council, and grant providers. Their collective efforts have been indispensable in enabling us to carry out our mission, and we are deeply grateful for their unwavering devotion and support. Above all, our deepest gratitude goes to each one of you—Sejong’s friends, supporters, and contributors. Your continued interest, support, and generous contributions played a vital role in turning our goals into reality. Thank you.

Hyunil Juhn Co-President, Sejong Cultural Society

Gye Young Park, M.D. Co-President, Sejong Cultural Society

CONCERT AND SYMPOSIUM Susanna Song, Master of Ceremony

CONGRATULATION Honorable Junghan Kim, Consul General of the Republic Korea Jonathan Bailey Holland, Dean, Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University

SEJONG CULTURAL SOCIETY PROGRAM REPORT Lucy Park, Executive Director

KEYNOTE SPEECH

“Music RI Identity” David Serkin Ludwig, Dean of Juilliard School of Music

PERFORMANCE Joy of Ong-he-ya (㢏䠺㟒㦮G₆㊾) ..................................................... Misook Kim Karisa Chiu, violin; Inah Chiu, piano Phantom of Arirang (㞚Ⰲ⧧䢮㌗) ..................................................... Misook Kim Noah Kim, piano Ta-Ryung I (䌖⪏ I)............................................................................. Eun Young Lee Karisa Chiu, violin Tae-Pyung-Ga (䌲䘟Ṗ) .................................................................... Eun Young Lee Sojung Lee Hong, piano Song of Roasted Chestnut (ῆ⹺⏎⧮) ............................................ Dong-il Sheen Sojung Lee Hong, piano Mong-geum-po-taryung (ⴓ⁞䙂G䌖⪏) ............................................Mischa Zupko Christy Kim, violin; Mischa Zupko, piano A Meandering Path (ↂ⿞₎) ........................................................ Hee Young Yang Jeremy Liu, piano

Blue Wave on a Theme of Arirang (䕢⧖ⶒἆG㞚Ⰲ⧧).............Hee Young Yang Jeremy Liu, piano Pheasant Hunting Song (∿㌂⌻G⏎⧮) ........................................Hee Young Yang Karisa Chiu, violin; Inah Chiu, piano Parangsae (䕢⧧㌞) ...................................................................... Teddy Niedermaier Teddy Niedermaier, piano Jindo Arirang (㰚☚G㞚Ⰲ⧧) ..................................................... Teddy Niedermaier Christy Kim, violin; Teddy Niedermaier, piano Spring in Hometown (ἶ䟻㦮G⽚) ....................................................... Han-Ki Kim Kyung Sun Lee, violin solo Kay Kim, piano; Sean Jang, ÀUVW YLROLQ; Conan Chang, second violin Hanna Jang, viola; Yunjin Ro, cello

INTERMISSION

PANEL DISCUSSION, QUESTION AND ANSWER Robbie Ellis, Sojung Lee Hong, Kay Kim, Misook Kim, Eun Young Lee, Kyung Sun Lee, David Serkin Ludwig, Teddy Niedermaier, Mischa Zupko 3WGUVKQP VQ VJG RCPGNKUV! 2NGCUG UECP VJG 34 EQFG VQ YTKVG [QWT SWGUVKQP

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RECEPTION Post-concert reception in the Gimbel Lane Reception Room

David Serkin Ludwig KEYNOTE SPEAKER

David Serkin Ludwig’s first memory was singing Beatles songs with his sister; his second was hearing his grandfather perform at Carnegie Hall; foreshadowing a diverse career collaborating with many of today’s leading musicians, filmmakers, and writers. His choral work “The New Colossus,” opened the private prayer service for President Obama’s second inauguration. The next year NPR Music named him in the world’s “Top 100 Composers Under Forty.” He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad. Ludwig has received commissions and notable performances from many of the most recognized artists and ensembles of our time, including the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and National Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Dresden Music Festival, as well as Jonathan Biss, Jeremy Denk, Jennifer Koh, Jaime Laredo, David Shifrin, eighth blackbird, the Dover and Borromeo Quartets, Imani Winds, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet and conductors Yannick Nezet Sequin, Manfred Honeck, Juanjo Mena, and JoAnn Falletta. This year Ludwig was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as recipient of their annual award in music. In 2022 Ludwig was awarded the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the largest of its kind for chamber music. He received the prestigious 2018 Pew Center for the Arts and Heritage Fellowship, as well as the First Music Award, and is a two-time recipient of the Independence Foundation Fellowship, a Theodore Presser Foundation Career Grant, and awards from New Music USA, the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, Detroit Chamber Winds, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2021 Ludwig was named a Steinway Artist by Steinway and Sons. He served on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music for nearly two decades before being appointed Dean and Director of Music of The Juilliard School in June 2021. He lives in New York City with his wife, acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova, and their four beloved cats.

MASTER OF CEREMONY Susanna Song is a storyteller, podcast host and a former award-winning television journalist. She spent eight years as a reporter/anchor at CBS 2 News in Chicago and four years at the ABC station in Minneapolis. Currently, Susanna is Chief Marketing Officer at a managed cybersecurity and technology company in the western suburbs of Chicago. She also hosts The Cybersecurity Simplified Podcast. She travels across the country hosting and moderating IT conferences and events. When she isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three young children. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. You can find her on LinkedIn.

PEREFORMERS & PANELISTS Karisa Chiu, violin. With a deep commitment to musical excellence and understanding of the repertoire, violinist Karisa Chiu has earned numerous accolades around the globe, including first prize of the Isang Yun Violin Competition, fourth prize and composer prize of the Menuhin Violin Competition, second prize of the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition, third prize and Bach prize of the Stulberg International String Competition, and fourth prize of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She is the recipient of multiple scholarships including the Luminarts Classical Music Scholarship, the Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship from the Musicians Club of Women, and the American Opera Society Scholarship. Karisa was recently named winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, resulting in a concerto performance in Severance Hall with JoAnn Falletta and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. Other notable performances include a solo performance in the Casals Forum at the Kronberg Academy, a recital at the Music in Pyeongchang Festival, and soloing with the KBS Symphony Orchestra under Markus Stenz at the Seoul Arts Center. She has been featured as a soloist with many orchestras such as the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra. Having been born into a musical family, Karisa began her studies with her father, Cornelius Chiu, a violinist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also performs frequently with her mother, pianist Inah Chiu. The Chiu family gives annual concerts at the Festival of the Arts at Mohonk Mountain House where her immediate family is joined with her uncle, pianist Frederic Chiu. She has also performed in many other music festivals such as Music@Menlo, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Chigiana Summer Academy, Music from Angel Fire, and Aspen Music Festival. In addition to her performance career, Karisa is co-director of Plymouth Chamber Players, a chamber music collective in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Robbie Ellis is a broadcaster, composer and music director. He has made classical music radio for WFMT Chicago and RNZ Concert his whole career. Since 2020 has been the host and producer of Introductions, WFMT’s weekly feature of local pre-college talent, where he has broadcast multiple Sejong-commissioned pieces. He has also worked on station-wide efforts to increase the diversity of composers and performers represented in WFMT’s playlists. Robbie is a composer by training and held a composer residency at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He works across classical music and comedy in Chicago. He has co-created comedy concerts for Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and Fourth Coast Ensemble; he is a music director for The Second City, the Chicago Magic Lounge, Malarkey Comedy and The Annoyance Theatre; and he regularly hosts pre-concert talks for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Grant Park Music Festival, and the Rush Hour Concert Series.

Sojung Lee Hong, piano. Hong a professor of music at Judson University (Elgin, IL), has communicated with diverse audiences as a pianist and educator in the U.S., Asia, and South America. In the past two decades, she has organized numerous benefit concerts for the Chicago-based non-profit organizations and presented the annual scholarship fundraising concerts for the gifted pianists from Korea (2008-present). YWCA Elgin honored her with the Margaret Hillis Award, given to an individual who has advanced the life of arts in the community of the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She performed Korean-themed compositions at the Midwest Concert Tours, in collaboration with the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Korean Dance Company under the full sponsorship of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago (2015-2019). In her tireless effort to blend two cultures, she released two piano CD albums, “From East to West” (2020) and “Rhythms of Korea” (2023) through grants awarded by the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Both CD albums are the products from her long-term service as a member of the Sejong Music Competition Planning Committee since 2004 and consist of the Sejong Music Competition’s required pieces based on Korean folksongs. As an ardent advocator of community outreach in music, she currently serves as the director of the Master of Arts in Community Music program at Judson University and the executive director of the Little Light Midwest Musicians (a non-profit organization which provides music classes and workshops for the underrepresented groups). She received the President’s Award at graduation from Seoul National University (B.M. & M.M.) and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

Sean Woosung Jang, violin. Jang was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. Since the age of four, Sean Jang has been captivating audiences with his violin talents. As a rising young virtuoso with exceptional musical potential, he has garnered national and international recognition through solo recitals and competitions across Europe, Asia, and the US. A passionate lover of diverse musical genres, he has clinched numerous chamber music competitions and taken part in various international orchestra tours. In addition to his musical pursuits, Sean serves as a community outreach music ambassador, dedicating the past four years to connecting, inspiring, and educating audiences through virtual concerts and chapel performances. Fluent in French, English, and Korean, he embraces his role as a global citizen, continually enhancing his linguistic skills in Chinese, Spanish, and Latin. Sean possesses a profound appreciation for different cultures and world history. An ambitious student, Sean’s academic interests extend to interdisciplinary studies in music, neuroscience, linguistics, and humanities. Currently, Jang is a student of Gerardo Ribeiro at Northwestern University. He has received lessons from esteemed teachers such as Zoia Bologovsky at St. Paul’s School, Soovin Kim of New England Conservatory, Chloe Kiffer of the Manhattan School of Music, and Kyung Sun Lee at Indiana University.

Hana Jang, born in Los Angeles and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, navigates the artistic world with exceptional talent and musicality. Transitioning from a decade of violin mastery to the viola’s captivating sonority, she quickly blossomed, claiming victories at renowned competitions like the Swiss National, Singapore, and many more International Viola Competitions. Hana’s musical passion extends beyond individual excellence. She co-founded the Jang Trio with her brothers, serving as music ambassadors who connect communities through collaborative artistry. Her leadership qualities shine through her roles in prestigious orchestras such as the Geneva l Conservatory Symphony, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and St. Paul’s School Orchestra. Currently a freshman at St. Paul’s School, Hana excels as a soloist, principal violist, and an avid chamber musician. Her teachers have been Vinciane Béranger, Marc Desmons, John Stulz, David Kim, Dan Dan Wang, Manchin Zhang, Laurent Rochat, Miguel Da Silva, Hanna Lee, Sang Jin Kim, Roger Ellsworth, and Mai Motobuchi. Admitted to the New England Conservatory and chosen as principal viola for the New Hampshire All-State Orchestra, Hana is dedicated to inspiring the community through her heartfelt musical artistry and intellect.

Christy Kim, violin. Christy, a senior at William Mason High School in Ohio, started playing the violin at the age of six. She won top prizes in the 2023-2024 CSYO Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the 2023 Sejong Music Competition, the 2023 Matinée Musicale Cincinnati Nancy F. Walker Memorial Scholarship Competition, the 2021 David L. Pierson Concerto Competition, the 2020 Jack & Lucille Wonnell Young Artist Concerto Competition, and the 2018-19 Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (Concert) Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (Concert). She was also awarded prizes in the 2023 YoungArts National Competition, the 2023 Walgreens National Concerto Competition, the 2022 and 2023 Overture Awards, the 2022 Sejong Music Competition, 2022 Society of American Musicians Violin Competition, and in the 2019 Louisville Young Artist Concerto Competition. She has been the concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (CSYO Philharmonic) since the 2022-2023 season, and also plays in the Mason Symphony Orchestra and her school Symphony Chamber Orchestra. She served as concertmaster of the Ohio Music Education Association All-State and Southwest Regional Orchestras for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, as well as the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (Concert) for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. In the summer of 2022, Christy was also part of the National Youth Orchestra summer program (NYO2). Christy has traveled to diverse festivals, including Chamber Music Northwest’s Young Artist Institute (2023), Vivace International Music Festival (2023), Bowdoin International Music Festival (2019, 2020), the Innsbrook Institute of Music (2018), and the Cincinnati Young Artists Music Festival (2017, 2019). She has played in masterclasses for Clara-Jumi Kang, Margaret Batjer, Solomiya Ivakhiv, Sunmi Chang, Dmitri Berlinsky, Moni Simeonov, Marina Chiche, Vadim Gluzman, Karen Gomyo, Tessa Lark, Timothy Lees, and Esther Yoo.

Kay Kim, pianist. As an active chamber musician, pianist Kay Kim enjoys concertizing domestically and internationally each season. She performed in recitals with the members of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Paris Opera Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, the recipients of Stradivari Society Award, as well as with the faculties of the Juilliard School, Northwestern University and Indiana University among others. She has been one of the pianists of Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s conductor’s rehearsals for over a decade working with many distinguished conductors including Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Mafred Hoeneck and Stéphane Denève and performed in CSO’s subscription concerts conceived by Pierre Boulez. Ms. Kim was heard on WFMT radio broadcasts performing in the company’s 40th Anniversary Celebration as well as First Monday Series by Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, the Rush Hour Concert series, Impromptu and Jewel Box Series and has presented recitals and performances in major venues such as Bennett Gordon Hall Series at Ravinia Festival, Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project, Carnegie Weill Hall and the Grant Park Music Festival. She also has appeared in CBS Early Show performing with violinist Itzhak Perlman. As a former member of a musical ambassador group Trio Chicago and Friends, Ms. Kim traveled to over 20 countries presenting a comprehensive array of American music since 2006. Her chamber music performances can be heard in recordings on Summit Records and MSR Classics. Ms. Kim teaches accompanying at Northeastern Illinois University. Her previous teaching and staff pianist positions include the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University and the Juilliard School during the academic year and The Perlman Music Program, Music in the Marche in Italy and Alessi Seminar during the summer. A native of South Korea, Ms. Kim attended Seoul National University for her undergraduate study and University of Michigan for her graduate degrees. She holds a doctoral degree in piano performance from Northwestern University.

Noah Kim, piano. Noah, 17, is a senior at Vernon Hills High School and studies piano as a Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy with Artist-in-Residence Marta Aznavoorian. Noah was selected as a Young Pianists Abroad Scholar, a scholarship created in collaboration between Chicago Sister Cities International and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a Scholar, Noah has performed at Conservatoire Serge Rachmaninoff in Paris and the Hamburg City Hall. Noah will perform four more solo recitals around the world. In 2023, Noah was chosen as a National YoungArts Winner. In addition, he was the first-prize winner and Young Jury Award winner of the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. He will make his debut with the South Carolina Philharmonic in the 2024/2025 concert season. Noah was also the first-prize winner of the 2022 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition. Noah was a twotime winner of the DePaul Concerto Festival and Sejong Music Competition as well. Noah won first-prize in many other competitions such as the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, Illinois State Teachers Music Association Competition, Society of American Musicians Competition, Clara Schumann International Piano Competition, and CAMTA Roberta Savler Competition. He was also a second-prize winner of the David D. Dubois Piano Competition in Ohio. Previously, Noah has been featured twice in WFMT’s “Introductions.” Noah has soloed in a four-concert series with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago. Noah has performed in master classes with pianists such as John O’Conor, Jerome Lowenthal, John Perry, Gilbert Kalish, Alan Chow, Daniel Shapiro, Jon Kimura Parker, Gilles Vonsattel, Azaf Zohar, Jeffrey Biegel, Christopher Harding, Winston Choi, Sylvia Wang, Marian Hahn, and Michael Brown, among many others. In addition to solo endeavors, Noah is an avid chamber musician. Noah was a member of The Goya Trio at The Academy. The Goya Trio won first prize in the Rembrandt High School Chamber Music Competition, the Chicago National Chamber Music Competition, and the A.N. & Pearl G. Barnett Chamber Music Competition. This past summer, Noah was selected to attend Music@Menlo, the Fellowship Program at the Montecito International Music Festival, anE 4PVUIFBTUFSO 1JBOP 'FTUJWBM

Kyung Sun Lee, violin. Korean leading violinist Kyung Sun Lee has captured numerous prizes including Tchaikovsky Competition(1994), Queen Elizabeth Competition(1993), Washington International Competition(1991) and the Montreal International Competition(1991). After becoming Assistant Professor of Violin at the Oberlin Conservatory in the fall of 2001, then Associate Professor at the University of Houston in the fall of 2006, she has been Professor at Seoul National University since 2009 to 2022. She has taught for two summers at the Aspen Music Festival, and has been invited to play the Seattle and the Marlboro Chamber Music Festivals. Lee has been invited as a faculty at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Heifetz International Institute in 2022. Lee is a former member of the acclaimed KumHo/Asiana String Quartet, with whom she toured worldwide. In recent years she has also been in demand as a judge of violin competitions including the International Tibor Junior Competition in Switzerland, Singapore International Competition and the Johaim International Competition in Hannover, Germany. Kyung Sun Lee studied at Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory, and Juilliard. Her teachers have included Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann and Dorothy Delay. She plays a Joseph Guarnerius violin dating from 1723 and she is the artistic director of Changwon International Chamber Music Festival and Seoul Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. From January 2023 Kyung Sun Lee has been named the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. Yunjin Ro is a versatile cellist who performs as a soloist, educator, and orchestral musician in both the United States and South Korea. She currently plays with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra as an assistant principal. Ro began her musical journey with piano at five and switched to cello a year later. At 18, she was honored with the rare distinction of early admission to Seoul National University, graduating with top honors. She then pursued her master’s degree at Peabody Conservatory and her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with full scholarships.

Jeremy Liu, piano. Jeremy is a 7th grader at Gregory Middle School in Naperville. He is currently a student of Sueanne Metz. Jeremy was the first-place and best Korean Interpretation winner of the Sejong Music Competition for 2018, 2019, and 2021. He was the First Place winner of the Music Teacher Nation Association (MTNA) Illinois Competition(Junior Division) in both 2022 and 2023, and he was also the First Place in the 2023 ISMTA Competition (Junior Division). Jeremy also won a lot of international piano competitions. He was the winner of the Pacific International Piano Competition, Quebec Music Competition and the Odin International Music Competiton. He also won first place in both Solo and Concerto Divisions of the Carmel Klavier International Competition in 2022. This past summer, he had the honor of performing with the orchestra in Perugia, Italy. In the school’s music programs, Jeremy is a cello player in the orchestra and a keyboard player in the jazz band. In addition to music, Jeremy also enjoys sports. His favorite sports are snowboarding and tennis. +FSFNZ -JV JT B UI HSBEFS BU (SFHPSZ .JEEMF 4DIPPM JO /BQFSWJMM BOE IF JT B TUVEFOU PG 4VFBOOF .FU[

Yunjin Ro, cello. Ro is a versatile cellist who performs as a soloist, educator, and orchestral musician in both the United States and South Korea. She currently plays with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra as an assistant principal. Ro began her musical journey with piano at five and switched to cello a year later. At 18, she was honored with the rare distinction of early admission to Seoul National University, graduating with top honors. She then pursued her master’s degree at Peabody Conservatory and her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with full scholarships.

COMPOSERS Han-Ki Kim, a Composer and Violinist, graduated from Keimyung University College of Music and Graduate School, as well as Michigan State University Graduate School. He held the position of concertmaster in the MSU Orchestra and the Daegu and Changwon Symphony Orchestras. Since participating in the 40th Chosun Ilbo Newcomer Concert in 1977, he has been actively involved in various performance and composition activities, including solo performances and collaborations with the Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra. Kim’s compositions are predominantly based on Korean folk songs and children’s songs, carrying substantial value and weight as artistic literature. His works not only enjoy widespread performances with global acclaim but are also selected as required repertoire for competitions in the United States and Korea, and are studied as assignment pieces for master’s and doctoral research theses. Notably, the world-renowned Italian ensemble “I Musici” recorded his composition titled “Four Seasons of Korea” in 2003 and commissioned him to create a piece in commemoration of their 60th anniversary in 2012. In 2012, Han-Ki Kim was chosen as one of the 12 composers representing South Korea, appreciated by K-Classic. He received the Daegu Music Award in 2014 and the Grand Prize of the Republic of Korea in 2018. Currently, he serves as a professor emeritus at Changwon National University.

Misook Kim, received her B.M. from Seoul National University, Korea. She completed her M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in composition and the certificate of piano performance at the University of Texas at Austin. Reviewer Mike Greenberg, writing in the San Antonio Express-News, called the composer ‘a bold and unrepentant modernist.’ He also has mentioned in San Antonio Current, ‘her music was fearlessly Modern – spiky, protean, often highly compressed, proudly declining to participate in the fashion for “accessibility” – but she was so sure-footed in her instincts and her craft that she earned her listeners’ trust to lead them safely

and enjoyably through the strange realms she conjured.’ Kim has won International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) Judith Zaimont Award, the Long Island Arts Council International Composition Competition in 2007 and the 2008 International Sejong Music Composition Competition. Most recently, Kim has won The 2018 Global Music Awards and Music Teachers National Association, ISMTA Commissioned Composer Competition for her composition for orchestra, The AWAKENING. Her music was broadcasted on Classical Spotlight of KPAC (Texas Public Radio) and WFMT (Chicago’s Classical Radio). In the fall of 2006, Kim joined the faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College.

Eun Young Lee, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, has been lauded for her “imaginative use of distinctive sonorities,” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) and writes music for a variety of instrumentations. She has worked with the New York New Music Ensemble, Pacifica Quartet, eighth blackbird, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Gemini Ensemble, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, dissonArt ensemble, INTERWOVEN, Radius ensemble and ensemble mise-en, among other ensembles. She has received a number of awards, including first prize at the Tsang-Houei Hsu International Music Composition Competition in Taiwan. Her music has been featured on several CDs including recent releases - Nong by gamin, E Plurius Unum by Liza Stepanova, and From East to West by Sojung Lee Hong. Her compositions have also been selected for broadcasts on the European Broadcasting Union and the Korean Broadcasting System. She earned a PhD at the University of Chicago, and master’s degrees at Manhattan School of Music and Ewha Woman’s University. She has served on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory since 2014 as well as at Tufts University as a visiting professor in 2016-2017. For more information, please visit www.eunyoungleemusic.com.

Teddy Niedermaier (born 1983) is a versatile composer, pianist, and educator whose compositions focus on dramatic continuity and narrative intensity. He has received commissions from the New Juilliard Ensemble, New York Classical Players, Minnesota Symphonic Winds, Indiana University New Music Ensemble, Sejong Cultural Society of Chicago, and Hidden Valley Music Seminars, as well as from several other organizations and individual musicians. He is a threetime winner of an ASCAP Plus Composition Award. Teddy self-publishes his compositions and is a member of ASCAP. He has performed extensively as a recitalist and collaborative pianist. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Indiana University, Teddy’s principal composition teachers include John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, Claude Baker, David Dzubay, and Alex Lubet. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago. As a former faculty member at Roosevelt University, Oberlin Conservatory, and the European American Musical Alliance summer program in Paris, Teddy provided instruction in music theory and music composition. His collaboration with flute icon Jeanne Baxtresser, Orchestral Excerpts for Flute Volume 2, was published by Theodore Presser Co. in 2019, and was a Finalist for the National Flute Association’s Newly Published Music Award in 2020. Teddy currently resides in Colorado with his wife, Susan, and his orange tabby, Crema.

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 the President of the Composer’s Association (Jahkgok-ma-dang), and Co-president of the Children’s Arts Production and a board member of Isang Yun Peace Foundation. Heeyoung Yang. Inspired by diverse cultural backgrounds, Yang has been actively composing various music with a broad spectrum that crosses multiple dimensions: the East and the West, the old and the new, the irrational and the logical, and the sacred and the secular. Such cross-cultural components are naturally embedded in her approach to musical language, timbre, intonation, lyric, pulsation, time, and expression. These ingredients enable Heeyoung’s music to deliberately touch the audience through a unique way of delivering Korean and Western music tradition in a contemporary form and through lyrical and imaginative storytelling of her thoughts and faith. Originally from South Korea, Heeyoung Yang received both her D.M.A. and M.M. in music composition from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, working with Joel Hoffman, Michael Fiday, Mara Helmuth, and Douglas Knehans. She also received her M.M. and B.M. from Yonsei University in South Korea. She lives in the Bay Area of California and teaches composition at Oikos University in Oakland.

Mischa Zupko. Celebrated for compositions that are emotionally-charged and viscerally-engaging, composer Mischa Zupko excites both musicians and audiences. Zupko’s piano concerto, “Fahrenheit”, was declared “a powerhouse of the evening” by Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein and “harrowing and gripping” by Classical Voice North America. In a review of his new release “Eclipse”, Bob O’Neil of Positive Feedback writes “Zupko’s chamber music leaves me uncharacteristically speechless….This music appears to have no specific roots, doesn’t seem to derive from any other composer. It simply asserts itself with force and eloquence.” Zupko has also received favorable reviews from New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini and the L.A. Times and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Reader for his significant compositional activity in Chicago’s new music scene. Zupko has been a featured guest on David Osenberg’s weekly radio program, “Cadenza” (WWFM). Zupko’s works have been championed, commissioned and premiered by leading United States orchestras and chamber groups including the Grant Park Symphony and Chorus, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the New York Youth Symphony, the Civitas Ensemble, the Western Brass Quintet, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, American Modern Ensemble, Camerata Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the St. Olaf Band, Eighth Blackbird, Corigliano Quartet and Lincoln Trio. He has worked with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and members of the Kronos, Vermeer and Pacifica Quartets. Other significant commissions have come from the Fromm Foundation, the Barlow Endowment and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Performances of Zupko’s works have been featured at Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall and Ravinia. He has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Fulcrum Point New Music Project and is engaged to serve in the same capacity with Fermilab, America’s particle physics and accelerator lab. Mr. Zupko’s numerous awards include first place in the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s ‘AMERICAN COMPOSER’S COMPETITION’, three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards including the first prize Kaplan Award, the ‘First Music’ award from the New York Youth Symphony, the Jacob Druckman prize from the Aspen Music Festival and finalist in the Rome Prize Competition. Recordings of his works are available on Cedille Records, Crystal Records, Innova, American Modern Recordings and ENF. Mr. Zupko is on the faculty at DePaul University School of Music.

MUSIC NOTES Rang Rang, piano solo (Eun Young Lee) “Rang, Rang” (2013) for solo piano is based on a Korean folksong, Arirang. In contrast to the broken-hearted mood of the original Arirang, this version is filled with delight. It consists of a diverse styles of expressions, which are not limited to common classical expressions but include rag and ballade styles that interrupt and interact with the original melody.

Joy of Ong-He-Ya for violin and piano (2008, Misook Kim) is based on the Korean traditional folk tune, ‘Pori-Tajak Sori’, a barley threshing song from Kyung-Sang Province. The thematic elements are derived from the simple interval of a major 2nd, minor/major 3rd and perfect 4th. These two short motivic ideas, ‘Ong-He-Ya’ and ‘Uh-Jul-Shi-Gu’, keep repeating and developing as a call and response between violin and piano. A delightful rhythmic motif personifying Korean traditional folk-tunes continues in different registers and instruments. Throughout the piece this simple and clear musical material interacts with a happy theme, representing the joyful and exciting Korean folk song.

Phantom of Arirang for piano solo (Misook Kim) Throughout history, Koreans have sung music in both times of happiness and sorrow and these songs are deeply rooted in the emotions of Koreans. The Phantom of Arirang (2020) is derived from “Arirang” and the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” which is written based on a major pentatonic scale. The main motivic ideas from “Arirang” (a Korean folk song that is also based on the pentatonic scale) and “Amazing Grace” were utilized throughout the work. Throughout history, Koreans have sung music in both times of happiness and sorrow and these songs are deeply rooted in the emotions of Koreans. The Phantom of Arirang (2020) is derived from “Arirang” and the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” which is written based on a major pentatonic scale. The main motivic ideas from “Arirang” (a Korean folk song that is also based on the pentatonic scale) and “Amazing Grace” were utilized throughout the work.

Ta-Ryung I for violin solo (Eun Young Lee): Ta-Ryung I for solo violin without accompaniment is based on a folk tune from southwest Korean, Sae-taryeong (Bird Song). While representing the melody clearly, several techniques of violin are used.

Tae-Pyung-Ga (Eun Young Lee): The lyrics of “Tae-Pyung-Ga” expresses the effort to overcome mundane anguish by singing joyful tunes. This work was completed at MacDowell Colony in May 2010.

Song of Roasted Chestnut (Dong-il Sheen): “Song of Roasted Chestnut” is a folk song from the Kyung-gi province. This song contains a refrain, “Oh, roasted chestnut…”, but the rest of the song describes the scenery of nature found in rural Korean life. “Song of Roasted Chestnut” for piano solo starts off with the original folk song melody. Accompanying parts are 7th chords with variations, keeping the format similar to a rondo or paraphrase.

A Meandering Path (Heeyoung Yang): ‘Ari-Gogae’ (which means ‘a meandering on high hills’), one of many different arguments on the origin of the term ‘Arirang’, has inspired me to start composing this piece. A journey for a long trip along a meandering on high hills (as described in the lyrics) is depicted in this toccatina.

Blue Wave on a Theme of Arirang (Heeyoung Yang): ‘Ari-Gogae’ (which means ‘a meandering on high hills’), one of many different arguments on the origin of the term ‘Arirang’, has inspired me to start composing this piece. A journey for a long trip along a meandering on high hills (as described in the lyrics) is depicted in this toccatina.

Pheasant Hunting Song (Heeyoung Yang). This energetic song that describes hunting pheasants is based on a Korean traditional tune, “Katuri Taryung”. The slow and serious introduction portrays the circumspection and tensions before the hunting begins, which followed by the bouncy and animated passage, suggesting the wild pheasant chases.

Mong-geum-po-taryung (Mischa Zupko): “Mong-gum-po Taryung” is a traditional Korean song named after the harbor in Hwang-hae province of Korea. The song tells the story of a fisherman’s return to the harbor after a long fishing expedition, with his heart filled with longing to reunite with his lover at the Jang-san-got mountain near the harbor. This beautiful melody was popular near the end of the Josun dynasty and is considered a significant example of the new style of folk songs that emerged during that era.

Parangsae (Teddy Niedermaier): Sung as a lullaby, the original Korean melody Saeya, saeya, parang saeya (“Birds, birds, bluebirds”) contains only three pitches: D, G, and A. Filled with large leaps and perfect intervals, the melody creates an empty and mysterious feeling. The sad genesis of this folk song lies with general Bong-Joon Juhn’s failed popular uprising against corrupt rulers and invading Japanese forces in 1895, in the days leading up to Japan’s formal annexation of Korea (which lasted until the end of World War II). This arrangement of Parangsae preserves the leaps and intervals of the original melody, but immediately introduces new pitches (B-flat, A-flat, E-flat, and B-natural in the harmony) that suggest a dark mixture of the G Major and G Phrygian scales. The low, resonant registers of the piano are featured, especially in measures 51 and 75, when the bass states fragmented versions of the melody. Twice we hear outbursts of bird calls in the upper ranges of the piano, which inevitably sink down into more reflective, somber music.

Jindo Arirang (Teddy Niedermaier): Jindo Arirang is a popular Korean folk song emanating from Jindo, an island in Jeolla Province near the southernmost point of the Korean peninsula. The song employs semachi, a metric pattern of three compound beats, often expressed as 9/8 time signature in Western notation. This particular arrangement of Jindo Arirang is inspired by its iconic depiction in the 1993 film Seopyunje, in which several verses of the song are sung; the first verse is slow and dramatic, while each successive verse becomes faster and more energized. In this setting, the opening Adagio is to be performed freely, with dramatic expression, outlining the full range of the violin with competing F# minor and D minor arpeggios. The Allegro energico section represents the next “verse” of the song, with the Jindo Arirang melody more clearly articulated in the violin starting in bar 32. The final “verse,” the Presto section from bar 97, evokes a whirling and dancing finish, employing fragments of the Jindo Arirang theme and confirming the home key of F# minor.

Spring of Home Country (Han-Ki Kim): “Spring of Home Country” can be said to be a work of variation in a word, and it was composed with the theme of the melody of Nanpa Hong, who played an important role in spreading Western music in Korea in the early 1900s. The nursery rhyme “Spring of Home Country” was composed in 1929 and is a familiar melody to all Koreans, young and old. The content of the poem is about the beautiful and nostalgic nostalgia of the village where I lived as a child. Following the lively prelude in 4/4 time, first violin plays the theme in an atmosphere as if reading a poem, followed by the first variation composed of splendid dispersion chords. Variations 2 and 3 are played by intersecting the parts with “Jajinmori” and “Gutgeori,” which are unique Korean rhythms. In the 4th variation, the slow-expanded theme contrasts with the fast tones of the first violin up and down. Then, the 5th Variation of the Cadenza character is played, and the final 6th Variation of the majestic character and a short coda decorate the end. In this score, short sentences suitable for the musical situation were also written in the score, so that the performer could feel the Korean sentiment in a more concrete way.

THE SEJONG CULTURAL SOCIETY I. MISSION AND HISTORY The Sejong Cultural Society strives to advance awareness and understanding of Korea’s cultural heritage amongst people in the United States by reaching out to the younger generations through contemporary creative and fine arts. It is our hope that, through this, the rich culture behind Korea’s colorful history will be accessible to people of any ethnicity and nationality while being a unique part of the larger, more familiar Western culture. The Sejong Cultural Society was first conceptualized by founding members including Lucy Park (current executive director), Hyunil Juhn (current co-president), and Aesop Rim (current honorary board). In 2003, the Seoul National University Alumni Association of Chicago agreed to provide a seed grant to create a program dedicated to introducing elements of traditional Korean culture to the US, and on August 20th, 2004, the Sejong Cultural Society was incorporated in the State of Illinois and approved as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The organization was named after King Sejong the Great (1397-1450), who was a strong patron of music, arts, literature, and science. Under his reign, Korea flourished culturally and academically, and he is now honored for his humanity, vision, and contributions to Korean culture.

II. PROGRAMS A. Sejong Music Competition (piano and violin categories) B. Sejong Writing Competition (essay and sijo categories) C. Sejong International Sijo Competition D. The Sejong Prize for Music Composition E. Sijo Education Programs and Sijo Events F. Development of resource materials A. SEJONG MUSIC COMPETITION One of our flagship programs is the Sejong Music Competition, an annual event since 2004. The goals of the Sejong Music Competition are twofold: to encourage talented young musicians in their studies and to introduce elements of traditional Korean music to younger generations. This competition is open to pre-college students residing in the US and features piano and violin categories. Participants are required to perform music that incorporates traditional Korean musical themes along with their chosen repertoire. Annually, about 100-200 piano and violin students participate in our competition. Since the pandemic lockdown, we have transitioned to a virtual competition format, attracting a significantly larger number of students from a broader geographic area—from the east coast to the west coast and even as far as Hawaii. Regarding the required repertoire, we have commissioned numerous talented composers to create music with Korean traditional themes for this competition, amassing approximately 150 pieces over the past 20 years.

B. SEJONG WRITING COMPETITION Another pivotal program is the Sejong Writing Competition, held annually since 2006. This competition aims

to foster appreciation for Korean literature and motivates participants to compose sijo, a traditional Korean poetry form. Participants are mandated to craft an essay on either short fiction by Korean authors or a Korean folktale, with submissions to be made in English. Over the past decade, the number of participants has seen rapid growth, with submissions ranging from 1,200 to 1,900 from across the USA and Canada. Open to residents of the US and Canada, the Sejong Writing Competition is divided into two categories: •

ESSAY CATEGORY: Focusing on introducing young adults to Korean culture and history through literature, our essay category utilizes folk tales and contemporary literature to explore Korean culture, past and present. It is divided into three divisions: adult (age 30 and younger), senior (grade 12 and younger), and junior (grade 8 and younger). This category is funded in part by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. Adult And Senior Divisions: Intended to give students a glimpse of Korean life and history through contemporary literature, participants are asked to read and write about selected translated short stories by Korean authors. Junior Division: Korea has a rich tradition of storytelling, and its folk tales reflect important aspects of its history and culture. For this competition, students are asked to read one of several Korean folktales provided on our website and write an essay in response to one of two provided prompts.

•

SIJO CATEGORY: Our sijo category brings the sijo, a classic example of traditional Korean fine arts, to a modern English-speaking audience as a unique form of poetry. Participants are asked to write a sijo in English on any topic of their choice. This category is organized in collaboration with the Korea Institute at Harvard University. The 2019 competition marks the introduction of an adult division for the sijo category for anyone age 19 and older, while the pre-college division is open to age 18 and younger. By opening our competition to all ages, we hope to continue to foster an interest in Korean poetry amongst poets both professional and amateur in America and Canada. Although the Sejong Cultural Society’s general focus is on pre-college students and educators, we believe that there is no upper age limit to learning and hope to be able to teach people of all ages about our cultural heritage. Since the competition’s first year in 2006, the Pacific Rim Cultural Foundation (Edward Rim) has continued to provide funds for all Honorable Mentions, which have been named the Friends of the Pacific Rim Award.

C. SEJONG INTERNATIONAL SIJO COMPETITION To meet the substantial demand for the sijo competition from poets worldwide, we inaugurated the Sejong International Sijo Competition in 2021. In 2021 inaugural competition, poets from 12 years to 85 years participated from 19 countries. In 2023, over 350 poets from 29 countries spanning 6 continents participated.

D. THE SEJONG PRIZE (SEJONG INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPOSITION COMPETITION) Traditional Korean music contains many unique elements rhythmically and harmonically. The Sejong Prize for Music Composition encourages composers to explore these elements and incorporate them into their compositions to create contemporary pieces for Western instruments that evoke Korean themes. Using these pieces in numerous performances organized by the Sejong Cultural Society and our music competition, we hope to bring the world of Korean music not only to composers but performers and listeners as well. For our prior competitions, we invited composers, regardless of nationality, race, age, or gender, to submit original pieces incorporating traditional Korean themes written for Western musical instruments and suitable for young student performers. For our 2012 and 2015 Sejong Prize Competition, our goals no longer focused on creating pieces suitable for young performers; instead, we sought to put a heavier emphasis on producing high quality Korean-themed pieces for musicians of any level to play. Our first Sejong Prize Concert, featuring the works of the three international winners of the 2012 Sejong Prize,was held in October 2013 at the University of Chicago.

On January 26, 2014, the Lincoln Trio and past winners of the Sejong Music Competition presented pieces with Korean themes at the popular Sunday Salon Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center. The concert was entitled “Music as a Window to Culture” and attended by mostly non-Koreans. On February 6, 2014, we presented the concert “Music and Poetry” at Roosevelt University. The Lincoln Trio performed Korean-inspired pieces composed by winners of the Sejong Prize and by Professor Kyong Mee Choi (Roosevelt University). Throughout the performance, the performers recited several well-known sijo poems by famous Korean poets as well as winning entries from the Sejong Writing Competition’s sijo division.

E. SIJO EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND OTHER SIJO EVENTS As an extension of our Writing Competition’s sijo category, the Sejong Cultural Society offers a variety of sijo education programs for English teachers and poets by providing seminars, workshops, and other resources. The Society aims to assist teachers in teaching sijo in their school classrooms. The Society hopes that Americans and Canadians learn sijo at school alongside other poetry forms such as sonnets, limericks, or haiku while they are young and open to learning.

Sijo Workshops And Online Sijo Class: In collaboration with Professor David McCann of the Korea Institute at Harvard University, Professor Mark Peterson at Brigham Young University, and several high school literature teachers, the Sejong Cultural Society developed teaching materials for educators to use in the classroom. Among other sijo-related resources, they are currently available on our website. Teaching material development was funded by the Korea Foundation and the Academy of Korean Studies; distribution was funded by the Doosan Yonkang Foundation and the Kyobo Daesan Foundation. Our annual sijo workshops have been held at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in collaboration with the UIC English Department and the Korea Institute at Harvard University. The 2017 workshop was held at the Newberry Library in downtown Chicago. After receiving a grant from the Korea Foundation in 2018, we are holding two sijo workshops at the PianoForte Studio in Chicago—one in May, and one in November. Both are hosted in collaboration with Indiana University’s East Asian Studies Center and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. Additional presentations on sijo poetry and a brief overview of Korean history were made in many locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange, Seattle, Dallas, and Atlanta over the past several years to educators interested in learning about Korean culture. An interactive workshop on teaching sijo was presented at the National Conference of Teachers of English annual convention. We have also hosted sijo seminar and sijo reading events for the general public at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chi- cago, the Andrew Bae Gallery, and the Poetry Foundation in Chicago since 2010.

Music Inspired By Korean Poetry: Originally, sijo were first and foremost written as songs and performed with musical accompaniment. In continuing this tradition, we have begun to collaborate with numerous musicians from a range of different genres in creating musical works based on and featuring sijo. Through modern and popular mainstream genres of music, we hope that contemporary prize-winning and classic sijo will be used in works that may appeal to the younger generations. In the future, we hope to see sijo expressed through a wide variety of media forms. Our first event featuring such a performance was our “Enchanted Evening with Korean Sijo Poetry, Wine, and Art,” hosted on October 31st, 2015, at the Andrew Bae Gallery. The Chicago-based artists’ collective and youth activist group Elephant Rebellion performed three hip-hop songs, one based on a 2013 Sejong Writing Competition winning entry by Roberto Santos, one based on a sijo by the sixteenth-century Korean courtesan Hwang Chin-i, and an original composition based on sijo written by members of Elephant Rebellion. Since then, Elephant Rebellion has performed sijo hip-hop songs at Northwestern University, Indiana University, University of Illinois, the Korean Street Festival in Chicago, and the Taste of Korea Festival in Skokie.

In 2017 we began our expansion into other genres of music in a concert at the Poetry Foundation titled “Music Inspired by Korean Poetry: Sijo Poems in Settings from Classical to Hip-Hop”. The concert featured classic Korean art songs performed by baritone and piano, contemporary classical pieces composed by Misook Kim (Wheaton Conservatory) and Teddy Niedermaier (Roosevelt University), a jazz ensemble composed by Scott Hall (Columbia College), and hip-hop songs by Elephant Rebellion. In 2019 we presented a concert entitled “Sijo Poetry and Music” at the prestigious Rush Hour Concert Series. It was held at St. James Cathedral in the heart of downtown Chicago and was co-organized with the International Music Foundation—the parent organization of Rush Hour Concerts—and the Poetry Foundation. The program included traditional Korean art songs and contemporary classical ensembles commissioned by the Sejong Cultural Society for this concert. Three composers, Teddy Niedermaier, Misook Kim, and Eun Young Lee (Boston Conservatory, MA) participated.

F. DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION OF RESOURCE MATERIALS After reaching out to pre-college educators whose students have participated in the Sejong Writing Competition, we discussed a variety of requests and suggestions meant to assist and encourage teachers interested in teaching sijo or Korean literature in their classrooms. In response to these suggestions, we are focusing on the development and expansion of educator resource materials. We visited several schools and video-recorded high school teachers who have incorporated the sijo into their curricula for the past several years and whose students number amongst the past winners of the Sejong Writing Competition. In addition to a variety of teaching plans submitted by numerous teachers who have taught sijo, these recordings are intended to give other educators an idea of how to approach teaching sijo in their own classrooms. The teachers who participated in our program include Ms. Tracy Kaminer at the Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal, VA; Mr. Chuck Newell at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, TN; and Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, WI. This project is in part funded by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies in Seoul, Korea. With further funding, we hope to eventually visit additional schools in Texas, New Jersey, California, and Hawaii as well as more elementary schools in order to provide a more diverse range of teaching environments. Additionally, we recorded Ms. Jorgensen teaching the basics of sijo to a group of elementary school students. Sejong Cultural Society YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@sejongculturalsociety) we posted lectures regarding various sijo-related topics-including how to write sijo, how to improve poorly written sijo, and comparisons between sijo, and haiku-by Professors David McCann of Harvard University and Mark Peterson of Brigham Young University. Also posted interviews with sijo competition winners, music performance videos of winners of the Sejong Music Competition, sijo and music concert video recordings, and other resource materials on Korea’s history and culture. Publication Of Sijo Reference Book and Journal Articles: In 2022, Pakyoung Publisher released SIJO: Korea’s Poetry Form, a book published by the Society. This book is currently available on Amazon. This book won the prestigious 2023 Franklin R. Buchanan Prize for an exceptional curricular book awarded by the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), an esteemed organization of 6,500 scholars worldwide. Ms. Elizabeth Jorgenson has additionally published articles on teaching sijo in high school classrooms in professional journals, including the Wisconsin State Reading Association Journal and the Ohio Journal of English Language Arts, and the National Conference of Teachers of English among many others. And she presented sijo lecture at multiple national and state level English teachers and Social Studies teachers organizations’ annual meeting.

III. ORGANIZATION The main direction of the organization is determined at board meetings, while the specifics of each program are determined by individual planning committees, which are comprised of experts in the respective field. Planning committee members are recommended by the Executive Director and approved by the Board of Directors, while officers are elected by the Board of Directors. All officers, board members, and committee members are volunteers and do not take any compensation.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (OFFICERS) Co-President: Hyunil Juhn and Gye Young Park

Treasurer: Esther Yang

Vice President: Sook Park

Executive Director: Lucy Park

Secretary: Helen Kim

Board Chairman: Ho B. Kim

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Andrew Bae

Joong Choh

Sook Park Choh

Yonhee Park Han

Hye Rye Hong

Hyunil Juhn

Ho B. Kim

Hyaesung Kim

Joann Kwak-Kim

You Sim Kim

Young-Kee Kim

Gye Young Park

Lucy Park

Mark Peterson

Esther Yang

Ho B. Kim

Juliana Chyu

You Sim Kim

Jamie Chin

Juliana Chyu

Young K. Kang

Byung Yoon Kim

Kyung W. Koo

Aesop Rhim

Marja Vongerichten

Chi Yong Whang

David Whitney

James Hahn

Hannah Surh

Keith Bowersox

PAST PRESIDENTS Hyunil Juhn

HONORARY BOARD

MUSIC COMPETITION PLANNING COMMITTEE: Kay Kim, chair (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL) Sojung Hong (Judson University, Elgin, IL) Susan Paik (Colorado Symphony, CO) Misook Kim (Wheaton Conservatory, Wheaton, IL) Kiju Jo (Eligin, IL)

WRITING COMPETITION PLANNING COMMITTEE: Heinz Insu Fenkl, chair (State University of New York at New Paltz, NY) Bruce Fulton (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) Seong-Kon Kim (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) Young-min Kwon (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT) Martha Vickery (Korean Quarterly, St. Paul, MN)

MUSIC COMPOSITION COMPETITION PLANNING COMMITTEE: David Ludwig, chair (Curtis Institute, Phila- delphia, PA) Hi Kyung Kim (University of California Santa Cruz, CA) Geonyong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea) Shinuh Lee (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) Efstratios Minakakis (New England Conservatory, Boston, MA) Younghi Pagh-paan (University of Arts Bremen, Bremen, Germany) Arlene Sierra (Cardiff Uni- versity, Cardiff, Wales)

ADVISORY COUNCIL: Yumi Hwang-Williams (Colorado Symphony, Denver, CO) Hi Kyung Kim (Univer- sity of California at Santa Cruz, CA) Chang Keun Lee (Kwang-won University, Seoul, Korea) Geon-yong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Korea) Yong Hi Moon (Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD) Nancy Park (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago, IL) Desirée Ruhstrat (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL)

20th Anniversary Events Planning Committee Andrew Bae

Hyerye Hong

Kay Kim

Esther Yang

Hyunil Juhn

Kyong Mee Choi

Gye Young Park

Jane Lee

Sojung Lee Hong

Ho B. Kim

Jennifer Cha

Sook Choh

Hyaesung Kim

Joong Haeng Choh

You Sim Kim

SEJONG COMPETITION PARTICIPANTS 2004-2024 Music Competition

Music Composition Competition Other Total US countries

Writing Competition

Year

Total

Essay

Sijo

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

351

208

143

2009

847

399

448

2010

1,169

463

706

2011

1,346

677

669

2012

1,748

799

949

2013

1,503

655

848

2014

1,948

640

1,308

2015

1,403

475

928

2016

1,257

242

1,015

2017

113

1,123

209

914

2018

106

1,121

105

1,016

2019

1,233

148

1,085

2020

215

1,202

190

1,012

2021

126

1,140

1,058

2022

100

1,164

127

1,037

2023 Cumulative Total

100

1,453

262

1,191

1,690

20,147

5,820

14,327

181

International Sijo Competition

Year

Total Entries

#of countries

2021 2022 2023

192 345 348

19 29 29

Cumulative Total

885

MUSIC COMPETITION WINNERS, 2004-2023 First prize winners only. (Teacher’s name) “Korean” denotes award for Best Interpretation of Korean Music Year

2023

2022

Prize

2019

Violin

Senior

Daniel Bae, Pike Rd, AL (Haein Kim)

Christy Kim, Mason, OH (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Junior

Andrew Lee, Camel, IN (Robert Palmer)

Nanane Sawada Naperville, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Elementary

Kinsley Ahn, McLean, VA (Gina Hong)

Harin Lee Gainesville, FL (Kurt Sassmannshaus & Sonja Foster)

Korean/Sr

Josheph Gallwas, Elmhurst, IL (Mary Sauer & Jeff Panko)

Christy Kim Mason, OH (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

Chloe Ng, Rockville, MD (Vivian Kwok)

Alexandra Dreesen, Buffalo Grove, IL (Injoo Choi)

Korean/Ele

Eric Tong, Lutz, FL (Ivanka Stefanov)

Harin Lee, Gainesville, FL (Kurt Sassmannshaus & Sonja Foster)

Senior

Kenneth Gallwas, Elmhurst, IL (Mary Sauer, Jeff Panko)

John Lee, Vernon Hills, IL (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Junior

Ryan Lee, Johns Creek, GA (Gina Myung)

Neal K Eisfeldt, Lake Zurich, IL (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Elementary

Sophie Li, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Alexander Moon, Vienna, VA (Ji Hyun Bae)

Korean/Sr

Ethan Zheng, Lake Zurich, IL (Marta Aznavoorian)

Christy Kim, Mason, OH (Desiree Ruhstrat)Julia Kim, Chicago, IL (Sang Mee Lee)

Korean/Jr

Brandon Shin, Birmingham, AL (Tatiana Kasman)

Neal K Eisfeldt, Lake Zurich, IL (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Korean/Ele

Sophie Li, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Harin Lee, Gainseville, FL (Sonja Foster)

Senior

Jackson Hunt, Monaca, PA (Yeeha Chiu)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Desiree Ruhstrat)

Junior

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Elementary

Marcus Yoon, Arlington, VA (Alice Ji)

Xiruo Wang, Chicago, IL (Davis King)

Jackson Hunt, Monaca, PA (Yeeha Chiu) Shivshankar Prasad, Elk Grove Village, IL (Soyoung Kee)

John Lee, Vernon Hills, IL (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi) Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Desiree Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi) Aiden Yu, Chicago, IL (Davis King)

Korean/Ele

Sophie Li, Chicago, IL (Erica Tam-Wang)

Xiruo Wang, Chicago, IL (Davis King)

Senior

Noah Kim, Indian Creek, IL (Marta Aznavoorian)

Esme Arias-Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Matthew Hahn, Lake Forest, IL (Christina Tio & Winston Choi)

Joshua Wolford, Chicago, IL (Stacia Spencer)

Elementary

Kaiden Lee, Chandler, AZ (Fei Xu)

William Maeda, Schaumburg, IL (Taka Matsunaga) Eliana Song, Vernon Hills, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Sr

Noah Kim, Indian Creek, IL (Marta Aznavoorian) Sreedevi Prasad, Ayaan Ahmad, Sharon, MA (Jan Sloman & Ryan Meehan) Anais Elk Grove Village, IL (Soyoung Kee) Feller, San Diego, CA (Martin Beaver)

Korean/Jr

Shixun Song, Buffalo Grove, IL (Elaine Felder) Jayden Kim, Chicago, IL (Yumy Kim)

Joshua Wolford, Chicago, IL (Stacia Spencer)

Korean/Ele

Kaiden Lee, Chandler, AZ (Fei Xu)

Eliana Song, Vernon Hills, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Senior

Howard Dai, Northbrook, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Noelle Naito, Elkridge, MD (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Zachary Guo, Deerfield, IL (Soo Young Lee)

Kaylee Kim, Round Lake, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Elementary

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Riko Pang, Inverness, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Primary

none

George Wang, Chicago, IL (Davis King)

Korean/Sr

Howard Dai, Northbrook, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Desiree Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

Shixun Song, Buffalo Grove, IL (Elaine Felder)

Henry Auxenfans, Chicago, IL (Stacia Spencer)

Korean/Ele

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Emily Chen, Arlington Heights (Injoo Choi)

Korean/Pri

Chloe Chu, Chicago, IL (Erica Tam-Wang)

Sylvia Pine, Chicago, IL (Isabelle Rozendaal)

2021 Korean/Sr

2020

Piano

Year

2018

2017

Prize

2015

2014

Violin

Senior

Ashley Kim, Wilmette, IL (James Giles)

Isabella Brown, Gurnee, IL (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Noah Kim, Indian Creek, IL (Yumy Lee Kim)

Esme Arias-Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Almita Vamos)

Elementary

Shixun Song, Buffalo Grove, IL (Yumy Lee Kim)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Primary

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Eliana Song, Vernon Hills, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Sr

Justin Chang, Schaumburg, IL (Sunghoon Mo)

Hannah Lin, Rolling Meadows, IL (Desirre Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

Noah Kim, Indian Creek, IL (Yumy Lee Kim)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Desiree Ruhstrat)

Korean/Ele

Shixun Song, Buffalo Grove, IL (Yumy Lee Kim)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates (Almita Vamos, Injoo Choi)

Korean/Pri

Jeremy Liu, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Sylvia Pine, Chicago, IL (Isabelle Rozendaal)

Senior

Derek Chung, Long Grove, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Ria Honda, Wilmette, IL (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Aliya Alsafa, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz & Matti Raekallio) Linda Wang, Lincolnshire, IL (Hye-Sun Lee)

Elementary

Matthew Hahn (Lake Forest, IL (Christina Tio)

Henry Auxenfans,Chicago, IL (Stacia Spencer)

Primary

Joshua Park, Hinsdale, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Riko Pang, Inverness, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Sr

Ashley Kim, Wilmettte, IL (Brenda Huang)

John Heo, Northbrook, IL (Almita Vamos)

Korean/Jr

Aliya Alsafa, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz & Matti Raekallio) Sidney Lee, Arlington Heights, IL (Hye-Sun Lee)

Korean/Ele

Matthew Hahn, Lake Forest, IL (Christina Tio)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Injoo Choi & Almita Vamos)

Korean/Pri

Joshua Park, Hinsdale, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Rebekah Kim, Vernon Hills, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Senior

Colin Choi, Northbrook IL (Sueanne Metz)

Zachary Brandon, Battle Creek MI (Almita Vamos & Hye-Sun Lee)

Junior

Ashley Kim, Wilmette IL (Brenda Huang)

Suminne Hong, Vernon Hills IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Elementary 2016

Piano

Richelle Shi, Long Grove IL (Brenda Huang) Melody Xu, Naperville IL (Sueanne Metz)

Esme Arias-Kim, Hoffman Estates IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Primary

Ryan Lee, Bolingbrook IL (Elaine Felder)

Kai Isoke Ali-Landing, Chicago IL (Lucinda Ali)

Korean/Sr

Colin Choi, Northbrook IL (Sueanne Metz)

Zachary Brandon, Battle Creek MI (Almita Vamos & Hye-Sun Lee)

Korean/Jr

Sebastian Ingino, Libertyville IL (Ludmyla Turkalo)

Isabel Chen, Northbrook IL ( Jasmine Lin)

Korean/Ele

David Dai, Lake Zurich IL (Christina Tio)

Elle Cho, Park Ridge IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Pri

none

Rebekah Kim, Round Lake IL (Injoo Choi)

Senior

John Schindler, Hartland, WI (Alan Chow)

Karisa Chiu, Palatine, IL (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Emily Cho, Schaumburg, IL (Brenda Huang)

Micah Yoo, Northbrook, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Elementary

Etien Balorda, Berrien Center, MI (Lydia Balorda)

Kaylee Kim, Round Lake, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Primary

Henry Shao, Sylvania, OH (Esther Chiu)

Jasmine Horton, Glencoe, IL (Hey-Sun Lee)

Korean/Sr

John Schindler, Hartland, WI (Alan Chow)

Karisa Chiu, Palatine, IL (Almita Vamos)

Korean/Jr

Emily Cho, Schaumburg, IL (Brenda Huang)

Micah Yoo, Northbrook, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Ele

Etien Balorda, Berrien Center, MI (Lydia Balorda)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Pri

Henry Shao, Sylvania, OH (Esther Chiu)

Elle Cho, Park Ridge, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Senior

Yerin Yang, Mount Prospect, IL (Brenda Huang)

Joshua Brown, Gurnee, IL (Almita & Roland Vamos)

Junior

Allison Lie, Naperville, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Isabella Brown, Gurnee, IL (Almita & Roland Vamos)

Elementary

Emily Cho, Schaumburg, IL (Brenda Huang)

Abigail Park, Arlington Heights, IL (Hye Sun Lee)

Primary

Emmie Guo, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Lauren Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Injoo Choi)

Korean/Sr

Derek Chung, Long Grove, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Shannon Kollasch, Naperville, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

Won Yang, Wilmette, IL (Elaine Felder)

John Heo, Northbrook, IL (Almita Vamos)

Korean/Ele

Emily Cho, Schaumburg, IL (Brenda Huang)

Lena Valenti, Chicago, IL (Sharon Chang)

Korean/Pri

Emmie Guo, Chicago, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Erica Jiyeon Nam, West Chester, (Kurt Sassmannshaus)

Year 2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Prize

Piano

Violin

Senior

Sean Choi, Wilmette, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Julian Rhee, Brookfield, WI (Hye-Sun Lee)

Junior

Yerin Yang, Mount Prospect, IL (Brenda Huang)

Claire Arias-Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Almita Vamos)

Elementary

Lilian Xu, Lincolnshire, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Isabel Chen, Northbrook, IL (Hye-Sun Lee)

Primary

Caleb D. Kim, Schaumburg, IL (Brenda Huang)

Foster Ward, Northbrook, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Sr

Daniel Rong, Vernon Hills, IL (Brenda Huang)

Hansuh Rhee, Glenview, IL (Almita & Roland Vamos)

Korean/Jr

David Peng, Buffalo Grove, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Justin Lee, Buffalo Grove, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Ele

Isabel Chen, Northbrook, IL (Inah Chiu)

Korean/Pri

Richard Li, Buffalo Grove, IL (Soyoung Kee)

Esme Arias-Kim, Hoffman Estates, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Senior

Kyle Jannak-Huang, Palatine, IL (Brenda Huang)

Tabitha Oh, Chicago, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Junior

Derek Chung, Long Grove, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Julian Rhee, Brookfield, WI (Hye-Sun Lee)

Elementary

Yerin Yang, Mount Prospect, IL (Brenda Huang)

none

Primary

Kimiko Darcy, Chicago, IL (Brenda Huang)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Taka Matsunaga)

Korean/Sr

Amber Scherer, Winnetka, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Christi Park, Hindsdale, IL (Cyrus Forough)

Korean/Jr

Derek Chung, Long Grove, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Justin Lee, Buffalo Grove, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Korean/Ele

Yerin Yang, Mount Prospect, IL (Brenda Huang)

Christian D. Kim, Schaumburg, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Pri

Kimiko Darcy, Chicago, IL (Brenda Huang)

Ella Saputra, Schaumburg, IL (Taka Matsunaga)

Senior

Trenton Takaki, Wilmette, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Gallia Kastner, Arlington Heights, IL (Almita Vamos)

Junior

Eric Lin, Hawthorn Woods, IL (Brenda Huang)

Hannah White, Germantown, WI (Hye-Sun Lee)

Elementary

Colin Choi, Northbrook, IL (Sueanne Metz)

John Heo, Northbrook, IL (Cornelius Chiu)

Korean/Sr

Trenton Takaki, Wilmette, IL (Sueanne Metz)

Claire Bourg, Aurora, IL (Cyrus Forough)

Korean/Jr

Whitney Jin, Naperville, IL (Brenda Huang)

Tabby Rhee, Brookfield, WI (Hye-Sun Lee)

Korean/Ele

David Du, West Lafayette, IN (Nadya Dubikovsky)

Rachel Shekinah Hsu, Wilmette, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Senior

Christopher Park, West Lafayette, IN (Nadya Dubikovsky)

Junior

none

Elementary

Sean Choi, Wilmette, IL (Elaine Felder)

Korean/Sr

Christopher Park, West Lafayette, IN (Nadya Dubikovsky)

Korean/Jr

Vivian Jin, Naperville, IL (Brenda Huang)

Korean/Ele

Yerin Yang, Mount Prospect, IL (Soo Lee)

Christian D. Kim, Schaumburg, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat) Barbara Juminaga, Chesterfield, MO (Addison Teng)

Jennifer Cha, Naperville, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat) Ade Williams, Chicago, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher) Zachary Brandon, Battle Creek, MI (Hye-Sun Lee) Hansuh Rhee, Glenview, IL (Marko Dreher) Hannah White, Germantown, WI (Hye-Sun Lee) Jennifer Cha, Naperville, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat) Ade Williams, Chicago, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher) Karisa Chiu, Palatine, IL (Cornelius Chiu) Hansuh Rhee, Glenview, IL (Marko Dreher) Julian Rhee, Brookfield, WI (Hye-Sun Lee)

Senior

Andrew Ly, Arlington Heights, IL (Brenda Huang)

Ethan Hoppe, Chicago, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Junior

Seoyun Baek, Buffalo Grove, IL (Elaine Felder)

Adé Williams, Chicago, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Korean/Jr

Yesse Kim, Ann Arbor, MI (Panayis Lyras)

Sofia Kim, Wilmette, IL (Almita Vamos)

Korean/Sr

Seoyun Baek, Buffalo Grove, IL (Elaine Felder)

Adé Williams, Chicago, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Senior

Nathan Noh, Hawthorn Woods, IL (Brenda Huang)

George Hyun, Winnetka, IL (Betty Haag-Kuhnke)

Junior

Seung Joon Kim, Glenview, IL (Micah Yui)

Jennifer Eugena Cha, Naperville, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Korean/Jr

none

Adé Williams, Chicago, IL (Marko Dreher & Almita Vamos)

Korean/Sr

Nathan Noh, Hawthorn Woods, IL (Brenda Huang)

Laura Park, Palatine, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Year 2007 2006 2005

2004

Prize

Piano

Violin

Senior

Paul Juhn, Mundelein, IL (Emilio del Rosario)

Samantha Bennett, Evanston, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Junior

none

Gallia Kastner, Arlington Heights, IL (Almita Vamos & Marko Dreher)

Senior

Sean Yeh, Libertyville, IL (Emilio Del Rosario)

Siwoo Kim, Westerville, OH (Almita & Roland Vamos)

Junior

Lauren Eun Kim, Bannockburn, IL (Emilio Del Rosario)

Laura Park, Hawthorn woods, IL (Injoo Choi)

Senior

none

Shawn Moore, Elgin, IL (Cyrus Forough)

Junior

Paul Juhn, Mundelein, IL (Emilio Del Rosario)

Herah Kim, Glenview, IL (Desirée Ruhstrat)

Jooeun Shim, Northbrook, IL ( Emilio del Rosario)

Susan Jang, Wauconda, IL (Almita Vamos)

Senior Junior

Ada Jeon, Northbrook, IL (Sylvia Wang / Soo Lee) Andrew Yoon, Vernon Hill, IL (Emilio del Rosario)

Sophia Cho, Park Ridge, IL (Almita Vamos)

MUSIC COMPETITION JUDGES, VIOLIN & PIANO 2004-2023 Asterisk denotes primary/elementary judges Year

2023

Piano Division

Violin Division

Kathlyn Brown (Cleveland Institute of Music)

Kyung Sun Lee (Indiana University)

Caroline Hong (Ohio State University)

Timothy Lees (University of Cincinnati)

David Kalhous (Florida State University)

Dmitri Pogorelov (Colorado Symphony Orchestr)

Samule Gingher (East Carolina University)

Rachel Lee Priday (University of Washington)

Meeyoun Park (Murray State University)

Lauren Roth (University of Arizona)

Yoshiko Arahata (Indiana University) Natalie Landowski (Western Illinois University) Youn Jung Cha (Cleveland Institute of Music) Michael Finlay (PianoKeys, Chicago) Christopher Harding (University of Michigan)

2022

Dawn Wohn (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Daniela Mineva (Humboldt State University)

Max Zorin (Penn State University)

Min Kwon (Rutgers University)

John Macfarlane (Lyric Opera Orchestra)

Jasmin Arakawa (University of Florida)

Yvonne Lam (Michigan State University)

Alexander Bernstein (Shenandoah University)

Kriten Yon (University of Houston)

Liza Stepanova (University of Georgia) Elizabeth Yao (Indiana University) Lina Yoo Min Lee (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Karina Bruk (Rutgers University)

2021

Andrew Cooperstock (University of Colorado Boulder)

Caroline Chin (Bowling Green State University)

Mayron Tsong (University of Maryland)

Cornelius Chiu (Chicago Symphony Orchestr)

Hae-won Song (Oberlin Conservatory)

Quing Li (Peabody Institute of Music)

Yu-Lien The (Western Michigan University)

Timothy Kantor (University of Arizona)

Adela Hyyeon Park (University of Nevada)

Kristin Lee (University of Cincinnati)

Dan Linder (University of Arizona) Clara Park (Augusta University) Gina Yi (Wheaton College-Conservatory) Melanie Almiron (New England Conservatory Preparatory School)

Y ear

2020

Piano Division

Violin Division

Yong-hi Moon (Peabody Institute of Music)

Simin Ganatra (Indiana University)

Chritopher Guzman (Penn State University)

Jason Horowitz (New England Conservatory)

Anthony Padilla (Lawrence University)

Francesca DePasquale (Oberlin Conservatory)

Kate Boyd (Butler University)

Gregory Lee (University of Oklahoma)

Sojung Lee Hong (Judson University)

Wen-Lei-Gu (Lawrence University)

Victor Cayres(New England Conservatory Preparatory School) Kay Kim (Northeastern Illinois University) Grace Juang(Northwestern University Music Academy) Jeong Min Lee (DePaul University)

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Elena Abend (University of Wisconsin-Milwakee)

Soh-Hyun Park Altino (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Chee Hyeon Choi (Bradley University)

Gerardo Ribeiro (Northwestern University)

Kay Kim (Northeastern Illinois University)

Marie Wang (Northern Illinois University)

Susan Chou (North Central College)

Yerim Lee (Civic Orchestra of Chicago)

Eunjin Lee (DePaul University)

Cara Schlecker (Triton College)

Geoffrey Duce (Illinois State University)

Hermine Gagné (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Haysun Kang (Loyola University)

Simon Michal (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Robert Kania (Judson University)

Jasmine Lin (Roosevelt University)

Jue He (Benedictine University)

Caroline Rothstein(Northwestern University Music Academy)

Ligia Takei (Dominican University)

Lauren Cless (Elgin Symphony Orchestra

Ludmila Lazar (Roosevelt University)

So Young Bae (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Daniel Pesca (University of Chicago)

Bing Grant (Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra)

George Vatchnadze (DePaul University)

Mihaela Ionescu (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Hyejin Joo* (Stellio Trio)

Seul Lee* (Minnesota Orchestra)

Young Whun Kim* (University of Illinois)

Youngsin Seo* (IUPUI Music Academy)

Marta Aznavoorian (DePaul University)

Nisanne Howell (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Wael Farouk (Carthage College)

Simon Michal (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Svetlana Belsky (University of Chicago)

Mathias Tacke (Northen Illinois University)

Annie Hsiao* (Northwestern University)

Kate Carter* (Lake Forest College)

Vakhtang Kodanashvili* (Michigan State University)

Amy Goldberg* (Northwestern University)

Silvan Negrutiu (Millikin University)

Olga Kaler (DePaul University)

Rochelle Sennet (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

MingHuan Xu (Roosevelt University)

Sung Hoon Mo (Wheaton College Conservatory of Music)

Nelson Lee (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Yumy Lee Kim* (DePaul University CMD)

Yoorhi Choi* (Stellio Trio)

Mary Rose Norell* (Goshen College)

Angelica Lundberg* (Fox Valley Symphony)

Amy Briggs (University of Chicago)

So Young Bae (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Haysun Kang (Loyola University)

Jun Kim (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

Sylvia Wang (Northwestern University)

Joyce Noh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Luke Norell* (Goshen College)

Sang-Kyun Kim* (Chicago Civic Orchestra)

Nolan Pearson* (Northwestern University)

Angelica Lundberg* (Chicago Civic Orchestra)

Elena Abend (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

So Young Bae (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Marcia Bosits (Northwestern University)

Russell Hershow (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Kyomi Sugimura (Indiana University)

Ni Mei (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Yu-Sui Hung* (VanderCook College of Music)

Susan Paik* (Chicago Civic Orchestra)

Aaron Stampfl* (Benedictin University)

Stacia Spencer* (Northwestern University)

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Susan Tang (Northeastern Illinois University)

Sue Synnestvedt (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Julian Dawson (Northwestsern University)

Sylvia Kim (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Anthony Molinaro (Loyola University)

Russell Hershow (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Junichi Sato* (DePaul University)

Rodolfo Vieira* (Civic Orchestra of Chicago)

Soyeon Park* (Northwestsern University)

Jaime Gorgojo* (Northeastern Illinois University)

Winston Choi (Roosevelt University)

Ik-Hwan Bae (Indiana University)

Sung-Mi Im (Indiana University)

Stephanie Jeong (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

George Vatchnadze (DePaul University)

Hermine Gagné (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Kuang-Hao Huang (Roosevelt University)

Karina Canellakis (Midwest Young Artist)

Ludmila Lazar (Roosevelt University)

Blaise Magniere (Nothern Illinois University)

Daniel Schlosberg (University of Notre Dame)

Janet Sung (DePaul University)

Kenneth Drake (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Guillaume Combet (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Theodore Edel (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Stefan Milenkovich (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Meng-Chieh Liu (Curtis Institute & Roosevelt University)

Thomas Wermuth (Western Springs School of Talent Education)

Winston Choi (Roosevelt University)

Russell Hershow (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Fredda Hyman (Music In The Loft, Artistic Director)

Ella Ionescu (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

JeongSoo Kim (Northern Illinois University)

2007

2006

2005

2004

Sando Shia (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Victor Yampolsky (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Aglika Angelova (DePaul University)

Nathan Cole (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Elyse Mach (Northeastern Illinois University)

Gerado Ribeiro (Northwestern University)

Andrea Swan (Evanston Chamber Ensemble)

Akiko Tarumoto (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Svetlana Belsky (University of Chicago)

Stefan Hersh (Roosevelt University)

Brenda Huang (Music Institute of Chicago)

Kyung Sun Lee (University of Houston)

Graham Scott (Roosevelt University)

Robert Waters (DePaul University)

Michael Kim (Lawrence University)

Alison Dalton (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Rev. John Palmer (Benedictine University)

Russell Hershow (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Sylvia Wang (Northwestern University)

Yuan Qing Yu (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Inah Choi (Music Institute of Chicago)

Alan Heatherington (Ars Viva, Music Director)

James Giles (Northwestern University)

Ilya Kaler (De Paul University)

Abe Stokman (Music Institute of Chicago)

Joyce Noh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Rami Solomonow (Roosevelt University)

MUSIC COMPETITION CELLO DIVISION, 2006-2008 Year

FIRST PLACE WINNER

JUDGES Loren Brown (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

2008

Mindy Park, Palatine, IL (Hans Jensen)

Paula Kosower (Northwestern University) Gary Stucka (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Loren Brown (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

2007

Benjamin Lash, Evanston, IL (Tanya Carey)

Paula Kosower (Northwestern University) Gary Stucka (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

2006

Johannes Gray, Wilmette, IL (Hans Jensen)

Kenneth Olsen (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Brant Taylor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

SEJONG PRIZE (INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPOSITION COMPETITION) WINNERS & JUDGES

Year

Winners

2015

Winner: Su-eun Lee (Weimar, Germany) Honorable Mention: Joungbum Lee (Chicago, USA) Yuanyuan Kay He (Austin, USA)

Judges’ Name (Affiliation) Geon-yong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea) Shinuh Lee (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) David Ludwig (Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, PA) Stratis Minakakis (New England Conservatory, Boston, MA) Arlene Sierra (Uniersity of Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales)

2012

First: Yongbin Park (Seoul, KOREA) Second: David Hier (Toroto, Canada) Third: Heeyoung Yang (West Lafayette, IN, USA)

Shih-Hui Chen (Rice University, Houston, TX) Hi Kyung Kim (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA) Geon-yong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea) Jan Radzynski (Ohio State University, Columbus, OH) Younghi Pagh-Paan (Bremen University of Arts, Bremen, Germany) David Cunliffe (Highland Park, IL)

2008

First: Eun Ho Chang (Dae-gu, Korea) Second: In Won Kang (Seoul, Korea) Third: Misook Kim (Naperville, IL, USA)

Matthew Hagle (Evanston, IL) Pierre Jalbert (Rice University, Houston, TX) Hi Kyung Kim (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA) Geon-yong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea) Chan Hae Lee (Yon-Sei University, Seoul, Korea) Desirée Ruhstrat (Highland Park, IL)

2005

First: Jean Ahn (San Francisco, CA, USA) Jeong Kyu Park (InCheon, KOREA) Second: none Third: Sung Joo Hong (San Diego, DCA, USA)

Cliff Colnot (Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago, IL) David Cunliffe (Highland Park, IL) Hi Kyung Kim (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA) Chan Hae Lee (Yon-Sei University, Seoul, Korea) Geon-yong Lee (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea) Desirée Ruhstrat (Highland Park, IL)

WRITING COMPETITION WINNERS Year

Essay Adult

Essay Senior

Essay Junior

Sijo Adult

Sijo Pre-college

2023

Susan Habegger (Fort Wayne, IN)

Dylan Chang (Los Angeles, CA)

Ian Kim (Princeton, NJ) Kit Pan (Glenview, IL)

Josh Poole (Lexington, VA

Jade McMullen (Albany, NY)

2022

Hannah Kim (St. Paul, MN)

Hannah Adams (Maple Glen, PA)

Mason Raymond (El Cajon, CA)

Martin Willitts, JR (Syracuse, NY)

Gabrielle Wincherhern (Woodbridge, CT)

2021

Sarah Watanaskul (San Diego, CA)

William Koo (Upper Saddle River, NJ)

April Zhang (Germantown, TN)

Sharon Drummond (Pickrington, OH)

Livia Huang (Sussex, WI)

2020

Isabella Cho (Wilmette, IL)

Anna-Marie Ahn (Portland, OR)

Anna Kim (Fairfax, VA)

Alice Davidson (Houston, TX)

Andy Zhao (Langley, BC, Canada)

2019

Young Eun Kim (Los Angeles, CA)

Michael Athanassiadis (Miami, FL)

Kevin Sohn (Irvine, CA)

Lily Daniels (Chesapeake, VA)

Sofia Liaw (Fayetteville, NY)

2018

Lucy Robertson (Marietta, GA)

Isabella Cho (Wilmette, IL)

Luke Park (Fullerton, CA)

Aidan Choo (Holmdel, NJ)

2017

Emily Chun (Salsbury, MD)

Dante Kirkman (Palo Alto, CA)

Alyssa Tang (Irvine, CA)

Clint Gersabeck (Golden, CO)

2016

Kaitlyn Jurewicz (Dover, DE)

Faith Chen (Wilmette, IL)

Hope Galusha (Manhattan Beach, CA)

Austin Snell (Pewaukee, WI)

2015

Taberez Alam (Bronx, NY)

Katie Danis (Gastonia, NC)

Mika Ro (Toronto, ON)

Zion Kim (Little Neck, NY)

2014

Samuel Walder (Oak Park, IL)

Brendan Phillips (Atlanta, GA)

Jason Lee (Naperville, IL)

Hapshiba Kwon (Cerritos, CA)

2013

none

Samuel Walder (Oak Park, IL)

Sharon Lin (Holmdel, NJ)

Roberto Santos (Laredo, TX)

2012

Eunsuh Emily Chun (Ridgewood, NJ)

Rosie Eunseon Choi (Irvine, CA)

Hollister Rhone (Chicago, IL)

2011

Suah Kang (Chattanooga, TN)

Via Savage (Davidson, NC)

Nicholas Duncan (Mundelein, IL)

2010

Joyce Sim (Jericho, NY)

Elizabeth Dia (Germantown, TN)

Sean Alaniz (Tucker, GA)

2009

Hannah Ruebeck (Easton, PA)

Yegina Whang (Northridge, CA)

Creasy Clauser (Crawfordsville, IN)

2008

Susan Yoojin Lee (La Canada, CA)

Julia Triesch (Sugar Land, TX)

Jacob Diamond (Weston, FL)

2007

Jay Lee (Glenview, IL)

Eunice Lee (Asheboro, NC)

2006

Clara Yoon (West Bloomfield, MI)

Jiyoung Kim (Hoffman Estate, IL)

WRITING COMPETITION JUDGES 2006-2023 Year

Essay

Sijo

Lyla Lee (Author, Dallas, TX) Robert Yune (Author, Greencastle, IN) Stephan Lee (Author, West Hollywood, CA)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT) Seong-Kon Kim (Dartmouth College, NH)

Sung Woo (Author, Washington, NJ) Melanie Han (Author, Seoul, Korea) An Na (Author, Vermont College of Art)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT) Seong-Kon Kim (Dartmouth College, NH)

2021

David Schaafsma (University of Illinois Chicago, IL) Caroline Kim (Author, Northern CA) Joanne Rhim Lee (St. Paul, MN)

Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT) Seong-Kon Kim (Dartmouth College, NH)

2020

David Schaafsma (University of Illinois Chicago, IL) Sora Kim-Russell (Translator, Seoul, Korea) Joanne Rhim Lee (St. Paul, MN)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT)

2019

Molly Gaudry (Author, Salt Lake City, UT) Lee Herrick (Author, Fresno City College, CA) Christine Lee (Author, Berkeley, CA)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT)

2018

Molly Gaudry (Author, Salt Lake City, UT) Christine Lee (Author, Berkeley, CA) Robert Yune (Author, Greencastle, IN)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT)

2017

Anne Holzman (Korean Quarterly, St. Paul, MN) Angela Hur (Author, San Francisco, CA) Junse Kim (Author, San Friancisco State University, CA)

David McCann (Harvard University, Cambridge MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul KOREA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Provo UT)

2016

Anne Holzman (Korean Quarterly, St. Paul, MN) Sam Park (Author, Chicago, IL) Martha Vickery (Editor-in-Chief, Korean Quarterly)

David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT) Ivanna Yi (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

Anne Holzman (Korean Quarterly, St. Paul, MN) Joonok Huh (University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO) Jenny Lee (College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL)

David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Gyung-ryul Jang (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT) Ivanna Yi (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

2014

Heinz Insu Fenkl (SUNY at New Paltz, NY) Joonok Huh (University of of Northern Colorado) Ty Pak (author, Honolulu, HI)

David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Sunghee Kim (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Ivanna Yi (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

2013

Mark Hagland (Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics) Anne Holzman (freelance writer, editor, St. Paul, MN) David Schaafsma (University of Illinois, Chicago, IL)

David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT) Ivanna Yi (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

2023

2022

2015

2012

Anne Holzman (freelance writer, editor, St. Paul, MN) Seong-Kon Kim (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) Martha Vickery (Editor-in-Chief, Korean Quarterly)

David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Mark Peterson (Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT) Ivanna Yi (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

2011

Mark Hagland (Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics) Sharon Chur Lapensky (author, Minneapolis, MN) Sun Yung Shin (author, Minneapolis, MN)

Jessica Fisher (University of California, Berkeley, CA) Young Min Kwon (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea) David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA)

2010

Heinz Insu Fenkl (SUNY at New Paltz, NY) David Schaafsma (University of Illinois at Chicago) Mark Hagland (journalist & editor, Chicago, IL)

Kevin O’Rourke (Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea) David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Anne Dalton (editor & publisher, Poughkeepsie, NY)

2009

Yoo-sup Chang (author, Laurel, MD) E. Bok Lee (author, Minneapolis, MN) Young-min Kwon (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea)

Sarah Bennett (poet, Swampscott, MA) John Hildebidle (MIT, Cambridge, MA) David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA)

Sun Yung Shin (author, Apple Valley, MN) Jae-Ha Kim (author & journalist, St. Charles, IL) Ty Pak (author, Honolulu, HI)

Brother Anthony An Sonjae (Sogang University, Seoul, Korea) David McCann (Harvard University, Boston, MA) Bruce Fulton (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)

2008

2007

Jinyoung Kim (program officer, Korea Society, NY) Heinz Insu Fenkl (SUNY at New Paltz, NY) Ty Pak (author, Honolulu, HI)

2006

Ann S. Lee (author, Towson, MD) Junse Kim (San Francisco, CA) Heinz Insu Fenkl (SUNY at New Paltz, NY) Ty Pak (author, Honolulu, HI)

SECRET SONG You ask me what I’m humming; I tell you I’m humming about nothing. This is untrue because I’m humming about you, all day long. Who am I to tell you you’re “nothing” when you are my song? Taylor Edwards (10th grade) 2009 sijo second place

KUDOS PAST WINNERS OF THE SEJONG MUSIC COMPETITION Siwoo Kim (2006 winner): I began “playing” the violin at the age of two-and-a-half. I chose the violin because it’s portable - playing music was the fun, social thing to do in that school. My parents and I immigrated to the USA when I was five and settled in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks to my parents’ dedication and sacrifice, I was able to study under great teachers at wonderful institutions. Now, I’m based in New York City, and I’m very fortunate to make a living by performing solo and chamber music with old and new friends, often in interesting places around the country and beyond. I also keep busy with my duties as co-founding artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in my hometown of Columbus. My best friend and I launched the first season in summer 2015, and we intend to keep it going for decades to come. Music, for me, is a celebration of life and has the ability to bring people together. I’m very grateful to lead a life in music.

Gallia Kastner (2011 winner): Kastner graduated the Colburn School of Music under Robert Lipsett in Los Angeles, California. She started her private violin study at five and a half with Betty Haag-Kuhnke and at age 9, she studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. She is currently on the violin faculty at the Colburn Community School. Kastner has won numerous local, national, and international competitions, both as a soloist and chamber musician. She is the winner of many prestigious competitions such as the Cooper International Violin Competition, the Blount Slawson National Concerto Competition, and the Triennial Johansen International Competition. Kastnr was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Scholarship and the Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship from The Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Gallia is a member of the Zelter String Quartet, which won the first prize in the 2023 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Gold Prize in the 2021 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition. She appeared on WFMT 98.7/Introductions, WTTW Channel 11, WGN Channel 9, and a Today Show appearance with Rachel Barton Pine, and performed with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, The San Francisco Philharmonic, among others. She often works as a studio musician and can be heard in the soundtracks of movies such as The Haunted Mansion, Dungeons and Dragons, and others.

Julian Rhee (2013 winner): Rhee won the Silver Medal from The 11th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, winner of Astral Artists’ National Auditions, first prize winner of the 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Competition, where he was also awarded the special Community Award, the Aspen’s Festival Dorothy Delay Fellowship, Theodore Presser Scholar Award, and the Manfred Grommek Prize from the Kronberg Academy. Julian is a Young Strings of America Ambassador sponsored by SHAR Music and a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s (CMS) Bowers Program. Julian made his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age 8, and performed with Indianapolis Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Aspen Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and Württemburg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, among others. He has performed in many prestigious venues including Heinz Hall, Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, Argentina, The Musikverein in Vienna, Bartok Hall in Hungary, New World Center, and the John F Kennedy Center as a U.S. Presidential Scholar, where he received his medal at the White House. Highlights of his 2023-2024 season include appearances with the Madison Symphony, Washington Chamber, and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestras, as well as a production of Lera Auerbach’s 24 Preludes with the Hamburg Ballet. Julian studied with Hye-Sun Lee and Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree as teaching assistant of Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory.

Joshua Brown (2014 winner): Brown was made his debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of fifteen. In 2023, Joshua was the winner of the Global Music Education League International Violin Competition in Beijing, China. He was awarded the Gold Medal, $100,000, and 3 years of international concert engagements. In 2019, he was the winner of the International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart in Augsburg, Germany and the CD Production Special Prize. In 2022, he won the 11th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Also, he won the Kronberg Academy’s Manfred Grommek Prize, the Second Prize and Audience Award at the Cooper International Violin Competition, Luminarts Fellow, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, and Pirastro Artist. Joshua has performed with orchestras in the United States and Europe including The Cleveland Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, China Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at concert halls on three continents, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center in Chicago, and other venus in Russia, China, Austria, and Germany. He has been featured on NPR’s From the Top, WFMT, and Argentina’s Radio Nacional Clásica FM 96.7. As a full-scholarship recipient, Joshua earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music with Donald Weilerstein at New England Conservatory of Music. He studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy as a Scholarship Fellow.

SUMMARY FINANCIAL REPORT

SUPPORTERS We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following organizations and friends: (donations & grants received in the twenty four months between January 1, 2022 and January 15, 2024. * Grant)

$10,000 and over DB Kim Jun Ki Cultural Foundation Hyunil & Doojung Juhn

LTI Korea Bisco Charitable Foundation

$5,000 - $9,999 Byung Moo Soh Ho B. Kim and Lucy Park

Sook Park & Joong Haeng Choh You Sim & Youngho Kim

$1,000 - $4,999 Albert Colman Juliana Chyu and David Whitney C. Kimberly & David S. Kang CNA International DBA MC Appliance Corp Ewha Womans Univ Alumnae Asso Chicago Inhee Jung Joon W & Joanne Kwak Kim Joongsik Cho Kay Song Kyu Sik Jung & Inhee Jung Kyung W. & Anne Y. Koo Esther and DJ Yang Pacific Rim - Edward Rim

Pacific Rim Cultural FDN, Inc. Edward Rim Peter Kahng Sangho Han & Yonhee Han Seoul National University Alumni Asso Chicago Sunwoong & Hyaesung Kim Yang Ho Rhee Yang Oke Hwang Yann H Woolley Dryer The Dryer Family Foundation Yoon IL & Ok Ja Chang You Sim & Youngho Kim Young Kee Kim & Sidney Nagel Mooyeon Oh-Park & Chonghyo T. Park

$500 - $999 Byung Y & Miyoung Kim Chang Man Kang & Younghee Kang Han Jae Eun Heran A. Park

Hyerye & Jeongsoo Kim Jae Hyun & Elizabeth Hyun Sei Ok Oh Young W. & Dong H. Kim

$200 - $499 Chang Man Park Chiyong and Miyoung Whang Daehwan Shin & Misook Kim Elizabeth Adamczyk Gye Young Park Haksoo Kim In Young Park or Young S Park Jeong Mi Park Jeung-Hee Park Jin Moon & Duckui Soh Jung J. Favalessa Kim & Kim Law PC

Kyung Bock Alumni Association Kyungsub & Bongsoo Lee Myung Hee Kim & Kiljung Kim Poongja L. Cho Sung Im Kim Wun Jung Kim Yoon Tae Kim & Nam Hi Kim Young Bong Kim & Sung Im Kim Young Il Ro Young Soo & Jane Hee Lee Don Lee Jane Lee

$199 and under Annette Faber Bonnie B. Oh Curtis Hansen Dae Hyun Cho David Eugene Miller Glenn H & Kay C. Kim Hawoong & Sojung L. Hong Jae H. Song & Suk K. Song James J. & Eun Chung Keirns James Smetana Jay Dong Yeo Jong-Il Marcus & Suzanne Y. Lee Jung Hee Lee

Jung J. Hurh Kwangsun R. & Seungja Patricia Kim Kyungja Yeon Kyungwon Chung L. Hall Healy, Jr. & Anne W. Healy Milhyang Joo Myung J Chung TTEE Myunghee Wang Seo Bae Stephanie S Malley Susan Dillon Yang Yoon Yong Hi Moon

In-Kind Donation Andrew Bae Bay Printer Christine Anderson Jennifer Eun Paul Hahn

Peter Sandstrom Sangya Bae Susanna Song Suyeong Kim Eunsook Kim

SUPPORT THE SEJONG CULTURAL SOCIETY The Sejong Cultural Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization supported by individuals and organizations who share our vision. Any and all donations to help advance our cause are greatly appreciated. Donations may can be made online through our website. https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/main/support.php

Make a donation via VENMO service: via VENMO to: sejongculturalsociety@gmail.com Make a donation via "QuickPay by Zelle": via QuickPay to: sejongculturalsociety@gmail.com Or send a donation check: Name: ______________________________________ Email: _____________________________________ Street Address: _______ City:

___________________

________________________ State: ________ Enclosed is my contribution: __ $1,000 __ $500 __ $300 __ $100 __ $50 Other: $__ ______ Please make your check payable to the Sejong Cultural Society and mail to: Sejong Cultural Society 606 Forest Road, Glenview, IL 60025 Thank you! 39

WINNERS’ SIJO the sun (and its arms)

UNTITLED

Jade the stone is vivid green, smooth and sleek, translucent. This jewel symbolizes wealth, highly valued by nobility. I am Jade; it is my given name -I’m just trying to survive. Jade McMullen (10th grade) 2023 sijo competition first place

if i am the sun, then you are the ever-lovely night. daily i chase you when i rise just to see you fade from the sky. is this love? rays always stretching towards things i can never reach Gabrielle Wincherhern (12th grade), 2022 sijo competition first place

STILL AMERICAN They say go, return to land that I don’t know. It makes no sense. Born and raised American, so Mexico is still foreign. Culture kept, but this is my home. Immigrant, no: Hispanic. Roberto Santos (12th grade) 2013 sijo first place

GRANDMOTHER’S HAIR Your grandmother’s hair held secrets

MY FATHER’S CHANGE Father, how much you like to talk About how strong you used to be

plaited into her crown, Passed on to you as she braided stories upon your scalp, Echoes of ages in her fingertips, weaving laughter from faraway lands. Katie Yen, winner 2022 International Sijo Competition, winner

How once, as a young man You arm wrestled men in bars for quarters Take my hand, the bathtub is slick Pretend it’s still all for quarters Josh Pool, 2023 adult sijo first place

QUOTES LINDA SUE PARK ON BRINGING KOREAN CULTURE TO AMERICA I stumbled across a type of Korean poetry called sijo. When I learned about it I was delighted, it was such a beautiful poem; the sijo I was reading were wonderful and I was enchanted about them. And then I got really angry, because it seemed to me like almost everyone in America knows about haiku. Students study haiku in school – third grade, fourth grade, teachers all do it – haiku unit. They circulate on social media. There are haiku about Microsoft. They became a part of American culture. I like haiku, don’t get me wrong, but how come everyone knows about haiku but almost no one knows about sijo? ... Reading poetry intensifies that experience because of its use of imagery. On top of the tasks listed above, the reader’s brain also has to conjure images. And with short forms like sijo, our brains have very few words to work with. That makes reading sijo very interactive: We have to fill in those spaces ourselves, which enlarges our imaginations. We quite literally tap into brain cells that don’t get used for other tasks. Stimulating those cells makes them available for creative connections in other realms of our lives. The ability to make those kinds of connections is the key to innovation and problem-solving. Sijo makes you smarter! There’s a danger when an entire people don’t tell enough stories. Some cultures are better at this than others. We need to get better at telling and sharing our stories. Even the things like the label of a model minority, that’s someone else’s story. That’s someone else putting their label on us. We don’t control that narrative…A lot of young people, sometimes Korean-Americans, say ‘I read your book when I was little, and it was so important to me’. Similarly, if the Sejong Cultural Society had existed when I was young, I know it would have been so important to me. So I truly, truly appreciate the work that you are doing here. And I hope I can continue to do what I can to support. Efforts like the Sejong Cultural Society are vital for two reasons: to educate others, and to nurture pride among ourselves. I thank all of you for your support of this very important work. Because you think it’s writing, it’s music, it’s sijo—but the way I see it, it’s another way to get Korean stories into the world, where they’re very badly needed. Linda Sue Park, Award winning & NY Times Best Selling author and poet Excerpts from the 2017 Sejong Benefit Dinner Keynote Speech

PHOTO GALLERY

2022 PUBLICATION OF SIJO REFERENCE BOOK “Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form,” edited by Lucy Park and Elizabeth Jorgensen, and published by Pakyoung Publisher. The Sejong Cultural Society received the 2022 PRESIDENTIAL COMMENDATION from the Korean government.

S SIJO WILL GO TO THE MOON Eleven Sijo Poems are featured in E the t poetry anthology “The Polaris Trilogy, ” slated to be included in T a Time Capsule will be sent to the t moon by NASA at the end of 2025. 2

2023 FRANKLIN BUCHANAN PRIZE “Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form” by Lucy Park and Elizabeth Jorgensen received the award for an outstanding instructional book from the Association for Asian Studies.

2023 VIRTUAL SIJO WORKSHOP English teachers and poets from the United States and Europe took part in this two-day workshop.

SEJONG CULTURAL SOCIETY YOUTUBE CHANNEL. Watch Susanna Song's interview with Lucy Park (Sejong Cultural Society) and Joyce Brinkman (editor of Polaris Trilogy) discussing the poems destined for the moon, including eleven sijo. The poetry anthology "Polaris Trilogy" is set to be included in a Time Capsule scheduled for launch in late 2025.

2023 GLOBAL KOREA AWARD from the Michigan State University

2017 DONG-SEO CULTURAL AWARD The Sejong Cultural Society received this prestigious award from the Dong-Seo Cultural Foundation in Busan, Korea.

2023 NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL STUDIES ANNUAL MEETING Ms. Jorgensen presented Sijo poetry at this meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

2019 SEJONG BENEFIT DINNER: Professor Mark Peterson delivered the keynote speech on “Frog Outside the Well.”

2015 “RELEVANT TONES”, WFMT The Sejong Cultural Society collaborated with the producers of Relevant Tones to introduce 13 Korean contemporary composers. This program, aired in two parts, was syndicated to more than 50 classical music radio stations in the US and abroad

2019 SSijo WORKSHOP, O S O INDIANAPOLIS, A A O S IN. English teachers from all corners of the USA gathered in Indianapolis to learn how to write and teach Sijo poetry.

2017 SIJO WORKSHOP, CHICAGO, IL Suwan Choi on janggu and Jeff Chan on saxophone performs an improvised jazz duo inspired by Hwang Jini’s “Chung-san-ri.”

2015 NATIONAL KOREAN STUDIES SEMINAR Los Angeles, CA – Lucy Park was invited to give a sijo presentation on behalf of Sejong at the week-long cross-cultural seminar for educators

2013 SEJONG PRIZE CONCERT Chicago, IL – The Lincoln Trio and 2012 Sejong Prize for Music Composition winners Yongbin Park (Seoul), David Hier (Toronto), and Heeyoung Yang (Lafayette, IN) take a bow after a concert featuring the composers’ winning works at Fulton Recital Hall, University of Chicago

2018 FALL SIJO WORKSHOP Chicago, IL –Elizabeth Jorgensen, Chuck Newell, Professor Mark Peterson , and Deb Holland were speakers at this workshop. Taking questions from the participants.

2018 SEJONG MUSIC COMPETITION at University of Illinois at Chicago Performing Arts Center.

2018 SEJONG MUSIC COMPETITION Winners’ concert and award ceremony at the Chicago Cultural Center Cassidy Theater.

2018 SEJONG MUSIC COMPETITION Contestants are checking in at the registration desk 2019 SIJO AT RUSH HOUR CONCERTS Chicago, IL – Ha-yeo-ga was a sijo by Yi Bang-won during the Joseon era asking Jung Mong-joo for loyalty, while Dan-sim-ga was Jung’s response; the four performers representing Ha-yeo-ga watch on as the two representing Dan-simga respond

2019 SIJO AT RUSH HOUR CONCERTS Chicago, IL – “Sijo Poetry and Music” was presented by the Sejong Cultural Society and the Poetry Foundation, hosted by the International Music Foundation, and supported by the Korean Consulate General of Chicago

2017 SIJO MUSIC CONCERT Chicago, IL “Music inspired by Korean poetry sijo poems in settings from classical to hip-hop” at Poetry Foundation. Columbia College Chicago Jazz Combo performs a jazz music based on Linda Sue Park’s Sijo “Tennis”, composed by Scott Hall

MUN YOL CHICAGO VISIT 2013 YI MUN-YOL Glenview, IL – Renowned Korean author Yi Mun-yol discusses his novel “Our Twisted Hero” and other works of Korean literature in front of a captivated audience.

2017 SIJO HIP-HOP SONG PERFORMANCE Ellephant Rebellion performs sijo hip-hop songs at Andrew Bae Gallery. They wrote hip-hop songs based on one contemporary original English sijo and one by Korean sijo poet Hwang Chin-i.

2018 SEJONG BENEFIT DINNER WITH LINDA SUE PARK Oakbrook Terrace, IL – Benefit dinner attendees line up for Linda Sue Park to sign their copies of her book of sijo, Tap Dancing on the Roof

2018 SIJO AND HIP-HOP WORKSHOP Chicago, IL – Executive director Lucy Park teaches attendees how to write sijo at a sijo and hip-hop workshop hosted by the Korean American Student Association at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Elephant Rebellion explained how to turn sijo poems into hip-hop songs.

2016 SIJO RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT Wheeling, IL – Elizabeth Jorgensen, English teacher at Arrowhead Union High School, WI, teaches elementary school students how to write sijo; her and several other high school teachers’ classes were recorded and made available online for other teachers interested in using sijo in their curricula

2005 WINNERS’ CONCERT AND AWARD CEREMONY Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.

2012 KAFE WORKSHOP Atlanta, GA – The student becomes the teacher as Tracy Kaminer leads a discussion on sijo with other educators after fellow presenter Lucy Park gave an introductory lecture at a workshop organized by the LA-based Korean Academy for Educators

2016 SIJO WORKSHOP, Glenview, IL Elizabeth Jorgensen, English teacher at Arrowhead Union High School, WI, explain how she teaches sijo in her high school creative writing class

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Congratulation! 20th Anniversary of the Sejong Cultural Society

Korean Performing Arts Center of Chicago ଞ˲ࢷ੼ࠖܽࡕ (ࢇ‫࣯ୃ؃ ࢠی‬, о૲ ̡‫ػ‬۱)