Ithaca College

Jin Hi Kim, the Freedman Foundation artist in residence at Cornell University, will visit Ithaca College on Saturday, December 4, to talk about Korean music and give a virtuoso performance on the komungo, a six-string zither developed in fourth-century Korea.

Free and open to the public, the event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

Traditionally performed by male Confucian scholars for their meditation, the komungo was also used in aristocratic lyric song ensembles and court orchestras. By creating a wide array of pioneering compositions for chamber ensemble, orchestra, and avant-garde jazz improvisations, Kim has incorporated the instrument's austere cultural heritage with the esthetics of contemporary Western music. As a soloist, she has performed her works with countless ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra, Key West Symphony, Kronos Quartet, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

"Kim's unique vision blends science fiction images, state-of-the-art technology, ancient mythology, and timeless music and dance traditions," wrote Joseph McLellan of the Washington Post. "No other artist is doing work quite like this, and she does it with superb style. Kim performs brilliantly and evocatively on an amplified komungo."

Kim's many honors include the 2000-2001 American Composers Orchestra Composer Fellowship for her komungo and orchestra composition Eternal Rock and the award for music composition granted by the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art, an organization created by John Cage and Jasper Johns to support innovative creative work in the arts.

The Ithaca College School of Music offers some 300 free concerts each academic year. More information on these performances is available by calling 607)-274-3717.

Contributed by Erik Kibelsbeck