Education

July 2022 - July 2023      Postdoctoral Fellow   Harvard University, Department of Music, Cambridge, MA. 

Mar 2018 – Aug 2021      Ph. D.  Musicology    Seoul National University, College of Music (Korea)  Department of Musicology and Music Theory

June 2016 - Sep 2015      Master of Music          Northwestern University, Bienen School of Music, Department of Musicology, Evanston, IL. 

Feb 2015 – Mar 2010     Bachelor of Music        Seoul National University, College of Music (Korea) Department of Composition and Music Theory (Minor: Business Administration)

Publications

[Book] 

• Beyond Cultural Boundaries: 21st Century Western Composers’ Korean Traditional Music, Seoul National University Press (Jan 2024)

[Journal Articles] 

• "Negating Nationalist Frameworks: Aesthetics of Unsuk Chin’s Musical Individualism in Twenty- First-Century East Asian Composition," The Journal of Asian Music 53, no.1 (Jan. 2022): 127-152.  

• “Reflections on Challenges of Musical Representation of Korean Historical Texts in Cord Meijering’s Marsyas for Percussion Solo Symphony (2018/19),” Music & Politics 18, 2024 

• “A Study on the Korean Symphony Movement by Maestro John S. Kim: With a Focus on Korea-US Exchanges in the Mid-20th Century,” Journal of Music and Theory, vol. 41 (Dec. 2023): 11-49. 

• "Collaborative Music of Korean Traditional Instrumentalist in American Contemporary Music: With a Focus on Gamin-Ned Rothenberg and Do Yeon Kim-Chase Morrin,” Ewha Music Research Institute vol. 27 no. 4. (Dec. 2023): 165-209. 

• “Postcolonial Discourse in 21st Century Music with a Focus on Daniel Moser’s Salpuri (2017),” Journal of Music and Theory, vol. 40 (Jun. 2023): 39-66.

• “The Cultural Appropriation of Korean Woman in Postmodern America: John Zorn’s Hwang Chin-Ee for Two Drummers and a Female Soprano (1997),” The Journal of Korean National Research Center for the Arts 38 no. 4 (Dec. 2022): 124-150 

• “A Comparative Study of Korean and Western Art Music Using Korean Historical Text,” Music Research Center, vol. 48 (Oct. 2022): 95-137.

• “Western Composers’ Encounter with Korean Traditional Music: Focusing on the Musical Representation of Korean Poetry,” Western Music Research Center, vol. 38 (Jun. 2022): 103-144. 

• “A Review on Listening to Music with Virtual Reality: Focusing on Los Angeles Philharmonic’s VR Project (2015),” Music Research Center, vol. 47 (Apr. 2022): 381-412. 

• “A Study on Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto with the Strategy of Homogenization,” The Musicological Society of Korea 24-1, (51), (May 2021), pp. 147-181.   

Working Papers

• “Denationalizing Musical Instruments: The Case Studies from the Works of Unsuk Chin and Jin Hi Kim,” Accepted Intonations, July. 2024.

• “Ideology of Motherhood in the North Korean National Opera Chunhyangjeon: The Gendered Role of Wolmae, coauthored with Chung Im Chun, on the review in Asian Theatre Journal, 2025.

• Aesthetics of Musical Creativity on the Creation of Musical Beauty, co-edited by Prof. Hee Sook Oh and Dr. Mingyeong Son, (Seoul: Monopoly Press), Jun. 2025.

•  [Fulbright Research Theme] "A Study of the Cultural Identity of American Contemporary Music in the Global Era: With a Focus on Cultural Dialogue with Korean Traditional Artists" 

Presentations

[Keynote Speech] 

• March 2025  (Expected) “Paradigmatic Shifts: Reframing Western music globalism from the perspective of Asian Composers,” a festival-conference at the University of Alberta, Canada, March 19-22, 2025.

[Conference Presentations]

• Nov 2024 “The Aesthetics of Deterritorialization: Transforming Traditional Music by Korean Diasporic Artists in the 21st Century America,” 2024 AMS Annual Meeting,  Chicago, IL. 14-17 November 2024.

• Oct 2024 “Rhizomatic Collaborative Music-Making and Diasporic Creativity by Korean Artists, SEM Annual Meeting, Virtual Oct. 19, 2024.

• Sep 2024 “Aesthetics of Deterritorialization: Interdisciplinary Creativity and Collaborative Music by Korean Gayageum Virtuoso DoYeon Kim,” the 13th Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 at KU Leuven, Belgium, Sep 13-15, 2024 

• June 2024 “Decolonial Aesthetics: German Composers’ Collaboration with Korean Music on the 21st Century Global Stage,” Asian-German Studies in Music Working Group Seminar (online), June 24-26, 2024.

• Nov 2023                             “Decentralized Duets: The Dynamics of Music-Making in American-Korean Collaborations,” 2023 AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. 9-12 November 2023. 

• Oct 2023                               “Reflexive Globalism in American Composers’ Incorporation of Korean Musical Elements in Contemporary Music,” International Musicology Society East Asia, University of Tainan, Taiwan, Oct. 23-24. 2023. 

• June 2023     "Breaking the Boundaries: Intercultural Music-Making of Korean Diasporic Composers Jin Hi Kim and Texu Kim,” Transpacific East Asia: Transformations and Trajectories in Music and Sound, University of Sheffield, Jun. 2023. 

• May 2023     “Denationalizing Musical Instruments: Case Studies from the Works of Unsuk Chin and Jin Hi Kim,” Instruments, Interfaces, Infrastructures: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Musical Media,” Harvard University, May 11-13, 2023.

• Aug 2022                                       [Round Table] “Cultural Questions and Instrumental Answers” in The Conference of International Musicological Society, University of Athens, Aug 22-26, 2022.

• Aug 2022                                       [Free Paper Presentation] “A Western Composer’s Historic-Political Representation of Korea, With a Focus on Cord Meijering’s Marsyas for percussion Solo Symphony” in The Conference of International Musicological Society, University of Athens, Aug 22-26, 2022.

• May. 2022     “Aesthetics of Postcolonialism Reflected on Western Composers’ Use of Korean Traditional Music,” Korean Aesthetics Society, May 7, 2022.

• Jan. 2022.         “A Comparative Study of Korean and Western Art Music Using Korean Historical Text,” SNU kyujanggak Korean Research Center, Jan 20, 2022.

• Dec. 2021        [Zoom Presentation] “Cultural Dialogues: Western Composers Encounter with Korean Traditional Instruments,” the Global Exchange Project of “East by West,” SNU MUSIC, Dec. 17, 2021.

• Nov. 2021               [Online Presentation] “Aesthetics of Rhizome: Between Coexistence and Contrast!,” 2021 KOCOA Music Festival”, analyzing five Korean contemporary composers’ works with aesthetic perspective, Korean Composers Association, Nov. 24. 2021.

• Nov. 2020                                 [Online Presentation] “A Study on Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto and Her Compositional Strategy in the view of Homogenization” The Musicological Society of Korea, Nov. 21. 2020.

• Jan.  2020                          “Locating Korean Musical Instruments in Western Arts Music: Focused on Historical Contexts and Criticism Since 20th century,” SNU Orient Express, Jan 20. 2020.

• Nov. 2019                           [Round Table] “What if Adorno’s Radio Symphony meets Youtube?” in The Conference of Music and Society, The Musicological Society of Korea 21-1

• Jul. 2019                                       [Presenter and Moderator] How does Unsuk Chin Defy Her Identity as a Korean or German Composer? Focus on the Case of Unsuk Chin's Double Concerto (2002), International Contemporary of Aesthetic, University of Belgrade, Serbia, July 22-26, 2019.

• June 2018                                     “Negating Nationalistic Framework: Unsuk Chin’s searching for her individual Sound in Opera Alice in Wonderland (2007)”, East Asian Research Seminar, Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 16-18, 2018.

• Mar 2016                               Conference presentations: “2010 Korean Production of Alban Berg’s Opera, “Lulu,” University of Chicago, Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, March, 4-5 2016, 

Teaching 

• 2023 Lunch Talk Seminar: “From Tradition to Innovation: A Study of Female Korean Composers' Use of Traditional Instruments in Contemporary Music, with a Focus on Unsuk Chin and Jin Hi Kim,” Department of Music, Harvard University, April 21, 2023. 

• 2023 Lunch Talk Seminar: “Listening to ‘the Silent Other’: Intercultural Melodies in the Memories of Korean Contemporary Composers Unsuk Chin, Tai-bong Chung, and Texu Kim,” Department of Music, Harvard University, Jan. 2023.

• 2022            Special Seminar of Society for Music Aesthetics: “Reflections on Challenges of Musical Representations of Korean Historical Texts in Cord Meijering’s Marsyas for Percussion Solo Symphony (2018/19),” Society for Music Aesthetics, Jan 8, 2022.  

• 2021             Special Lecture of Doctoral Dissertation: “Western Composers’ Encounter with Korean Traditional Music,” SNU College of Music, Nov. 9, 2021

• 2020             Special Lecture: Edward Said’s Orientalism and His Music Critics, Music Criticism (Prof. U. Choi, H. Oh) , SNU College of Music, Oct. 7, 2020. 

• 2018- 2019    Teaching Assistant: Western Music History I- IV, Methodology of Music Research, Introduction Western Classical Music, Western Contemporary Music Seminar, College of Music in Seoul National University

• 2016 -2017    Music faculty teaching piano and music theory in British International School of Chicago, South Loop, Evanston, IL, USA. 

Awards

• 2024 Excellent Academic Book Award, Beyond Cultural Boundaries: 21st Century Western Composers’ Korean Traditional Music, from the National Academy of Sciences of Korea, 2024.

• 2024 Northwestern University John Cage Research Grant Award, titled “Reconsidering Cagean Orientalism: Decolonizing in John Cage's Reception of Asia,” 2024-2025. 

• 2020 Excellence in New Musicologist’s Outstanding Article Award, The Musicological Society of Korea, Nov. 2020

(last updated May 25, 2024)