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Biography
Sungji
was born in Seoul in 1973 and began piano lessons at the age
of five. She studied composition at the Hanyang University
in Seoul and subsequently completed her MMus at the Royal
Academy of Music in London and her PhD in composition with
Nicola LeFanu at the University of York in the UK. She has
participated in various workshops and masterclasses such as
Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont) and in Darmstadt where she
studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Theo
Loevendie, Tristan Murail and Toshio Hosokawa, as well as
the International mastercourse and workshop for conductors
and composers with Peter Eötvös and Zsolt Nagy in Herrenhaus
Edenkoben.Her creative output ranges from works for solo instruments to full orchestra, as well as choral, ballet and electroacoustic music. Her works have been commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard University, USA), the Tongyoung International Music Festival (Korea), the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea), the Keumho Asiana Cultural Foundation (Korea), the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music (USA), the International Isang Yun Music Society (Germany) and the MATA Festival (USA).
Over the last decade, Sungji's music has been performed by leading players and ensembles in over 39 countries and 131 cities at such venues as the Carnegie Hall (New York), the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), the Gewandhaus (Leipzig), the Konzerthaus (Berlin), the Flagey (Brussels), the Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Temple Church (London), the Merkin Hall (New York), the Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), Athens Concert Hall (Athens), the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), the Cantacuzino Palace (Bucharest) and the National Theatre 'Opera and Ballet' (Ljubljana).
Her music has been widely broadcast in more than 17 countries (35 channels including BBC Radio 3, SWR 2, DLF, MDR FIGARO, WNYC 2, RDP-Antena 2, HRT 3, ERT, YLE Radio 1, ABC CLASSIC FM and others) and has been recorded and released on the Soundbrush, Elektramusic, Atoll, Dutton label and by ECM Records.
She has won the In Nova Música Competition (1st Prize), the Seoul Spring Festival Composition Competition (1st Prize), the Jesus Villa-Rojo (1st Prize), the European Competition of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (1st Prize), the Temple Music Composition Prize (1st Prize), the Crwth Competition (1st Prize), the international competition for original ballet music at the ISCM World Music Days – Slovenia (1st Prize), the Montserrat International Camera Music Composition Competition (1st Prize), the Salvatore Martirano Composition Competition (2nd Prize), the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition (2nd Prize), the Theodore Front Prize (IAWM), the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (ACL), the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers Scholarship, and several other prizes and awards.
Her recent CD release Stella Maris on the ECM New Series (ECM 1929), performed by the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval, received critical acclaim and reached the top ten on the Billboard Classical Chart and Itunes classics. Since it was released, her Missa Lumen de Lumine has been performed by Trio Mediaeval in over 60 cities around the world, at the International Music Festival Bath, the Festival International de Musiques Sacrées, the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Gernrode MDR Musiksommer, the David Oistfest Festival, the Venice Music Festival, the Ettiswil Festival, the Bergen International Festival, the Kuoroespoo International Choral Espoo Esbo Körfestival, Hong Kong Arts Festival and others.
In 2011, three new ensemble works will be premiered. cross.art LIFT will be first performed by the Ensemble cross.art in Stuttgart (Germany), Bisbiglio will be first performed by the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble during the International Contemporary Music Festival in Nicosia (Cyprus) and Vernal Equinox will be first performed by Ensemble TIMF during the 6th Seoul Spring Festival in Seoul (Korea).
Current projects include three performances of cross.art LIFT by the Ensemble cross.art in Stuttgart, a performances of Black Arrow by Harry Sparnaay in Madrid (Spain), a performance of Irides by the Jenaer Philharmonie (piano solo: Werner Bärtschi, conductor: Markus L. Frank) during the Weimar Spring Festival in Weimar (Germany), performances of Flash and Black Arrow during the Encuentro de Arte Sonoro y nuevas musicas Tsonami in Buenos Aires (Argentina), a performance of The Light of the World during the ISCM World Music Days in Zagreb (Croatia) and six performances of Missa Lumen de Lumine by Renaissance Voices under the direction of Kevin Dewey in Berkley, Detroit, Dearborn and Farmington Hills (MI, USA).