PhD candidate Andrew Filson was recently announced as the winner of the Korea National University of Arts International Composition Competition for one of his pieces. The Korea National University of Arts International Composition Competition aims to discover a variety of creative works that combine Eastern and Western instruments based on traditional Korean music, pioneering the way for traditional Korean music …
Sejong Korean Music Orchestra Performs Works Yoomee Baek
"The Ojakyo Project" is a program to promote creative new music with orchestras and composers supported by the Korean Culture and Arts Commission. Yoomee was selected as a composer for the two-year project from 2021 to 2022, and this year's second Ojakyo project will be carried out with the Sejong Korean Music Orchestra. "Unlike other Korean traditional music orchestras, the ...
Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra plays student composers’ works
From UH News University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa music composition students are required to compose several original pieces spanning different genres, including orchestral works. Having a live orchestra perform those works is an integral part of the learning experience, however, some students do not get to hear their creations played by live musicians, much less a professional orchestra. In late June 2021, four UH Mānoa …
Eastbound: Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship awarded to graduate student Chris Molina
Christopher Molina, PhD candidate in Composition at UHM, has been named the recipient of the 2021-22 Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship. This highly-competitive scholarship is offered those whose studies and research intersect with Japan, and offers students the opportunity to travel to Japan in order to deepen their knowledge and experience. The vision for the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation is …
From Home: New Album by UH-Mānoa Ph. D. student Rafael Borges Amaral
UH-Mānoa Ph.D. student Rafael Borges Amaral has recently released a new album for duo guitar, From Home, in collaboration with Wesley Amorim. According to Rafael, the album explores Brazilian songs that he and Wesley listened to while growing up in Brazil. The album includes compositions from Gilberto Gil, Djavan, and Tom Jobim, Rafael’s arrangement of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed …
UH-Mānoa Composer Donald Reid Womack’s “Labyrinth”
Although the world has drastically changed over the past few months due to the Coronavirus pandemic, musicians and organizations have adapted and found creative ways to share music with audiences. In response to the cancellation of live performances, the top institution for Korean music, the National Gugak Center, held a competition for performing ensembles, in which two different groups entered …
Composer Donald Reid Womack awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Professor of Music Composition and Theory Donald Reid Womack was named a 2020 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The Guggenheim Fellowship is one of the major competitions for the arts and other fields. Womack is among a diverse group of 175 writers, scholars, artists and scientists from the U.S. and Canada to receive the achievement. The candidates were chosen through a …
The Symphony of the Birds Performed by UH Wind Ensemble on Kaua’i
The UH Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Boeckman, recently visited Kaua’i to perform three concerts of the Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds. The first concert took place on Sunday February 23, 2020 and was a standing-room-only ‘ohana concert. The other two keiki concerts took place on Monday February 24th, 2020. Dr. Boeckman said about the concert series, “The Sunday …
Music of composer Yoomee Baek to be featured by Korean orchestra
University of Hawaiˋi at Mānoa PhD composition student Yoomee Baek is composing three pieces of music to be performed in September 2020 by the Se-Jong Music Orchestra as part of its Ojakgyo Project. The Ojakgyo Project is a creative performance arts production created by the Korean Culture and Arts Council. Baek said that the Council “supports exchanges and cooperation with …
UH Composition Students Shine in Japan
The UH Mānoa composition program continues to make its mark on the world. Four UH composition students, William Watson, Chris Molina, Andrew Filson and James Finamore were featured on the May 11 Chiba concert of Dolce Hogaku Ensemble (ドルチェ邦楽合奏団), a Tokyo-based Japanese instrument group, led by world-renowned shakuhachi performer, Seizan Sakata. The event was structured as a competition, with an …