Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Listen to the Tori Ensemble
The Tori Ensemble transcends musical borders in its presentation of Five Directions, an acclaimed work mingling jazz, new music, and ancient Korean traditions ranging from shamanistic rituals to pansori vocals. Composed of Korean masters and leading names from New York’s cutting-edge music scene, the group features Yoon Jeong Heo (geomungo-zither), Erik Friedlander (cello), Kang Kwon Soon (vocals), Young Chi Min (daegum-flute, changgo-drum), Ned Rothenberg (clarinets, shakuhachi-flute), and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion).
Director Heo Yoon-jeong is an active Geomungo soloist and composer. Her talents cut across various musical genres, expanding the possibilities of Geomungo and Korean music by bringing together different genres ranging from traditional music, impromptu music, and contemporary music. She studied Korean classical music at Seoul National University and earned a Ph.D in philosophy of art from Sungkyunkwan University’s Dept. of Eastern Philosophy. She has played in the Seoul Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra, and learned the Sanjo Geomungo under Han Kap-deuk, who is officially recognized by the South Korea’s Cultural Heritage as the world’s leading player of that instrument, and is his designated successor.
In 2007, she received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for a residency at the Asian Cultural Council New York, where she formed the Tori Ensemble and organized rousing solo performances at the New York Asia Society and Smithsonian Premier Gallery in Washington DC. Their performance at Crossroads is part of the group’s first full North American tour.
This project is supported by the