Guest Artists

Eunah Noh

Eunah Noh, haegeum artist

Dr. Eunah Noh is a leading haegeum artist in South Korea. The haegeum is a two-string Korean fiddle.

Dr. Noh is Professor of Korean Music at Seoul National University, she is a Trustee of the Society of Haegeum Practitioners, Director of Korean Jeongak Center, and a member of Gazenakhoe. She has given over two dozen solo recitals in Korea and other prestigious festivals and venues around the world, including a recital at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

Dr. Noh is a recipient of many distinguished awards, including Gold Prize at the 14th Dong-A Korean Music Competition (Haegeum Division), Peace Award at the 1st World Culture Open (WCO), Silver Prize at the Seoul National University Music Competition (Traditional Instrumental Music Division), and Fringe Award at the 6th Tongyeong International Music Festival.

Dr. Noh was a member of KBS Korean Traditional Music Orchestra (2000-2015) and served as a Director of Seoul Arts String Ensemble. Prior to her appointment at Seoul National University, Dr. Noh served as Professor of Korean Music at Seoul Institute of the Arts (2015-2021) as well as Lecturer at Chugye University for the Arts, Sookmyung Women’s University, Chung-Ang University, Woosuk University, Gugak National High School, and Kaywon High School of Arts.

A distinguished scholar of Haegeum, Dr. Noh published the following books: Haegeum: A Comprehensive Guidebook for Composers and Performers (Seoul National University Press, 2022), Contemporary Haegeum Performance Techniques: Theory (Yesol, 2020), and Contemporary Haegeum Performance Techniques: Application (Yesol, 2020). She recorded eight solo albums, including Haegeum Sanjo (2022), Haegeum Folk Song (2022), and Haegeum Contemporary Music (2022).

Dr. Noh received all her music degrees (B.M., M.M., and D.M.A.) at Seoul National University College of Music.

Eonhwa Lee

Eonhwa Lee, gayageum artist

Eonhwa Lee is a distinguished gayageum artist of her generation in South Korea. The gayageum is a plucked 12-string Korean zither.

Being an active performer, Lee is a member of Performance Troupe at Busan Naitonal Gugak Center. She is also a member of Seoul Gayageum Ensemble and Seoul Yanggeum Ensemble. Currently, Lee is a Lecturer of Gayageum and Korean Music at National Gugak Middle and High School in South Korea. A graduate of the prestigious Gugak National High School (Korea’s premiere institution for young Korean Traditional musicians), Lee received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Korean Music from Seoul National University. She is currently completing Ph.D. in Korean Music at Seoul National University.

Jung-Min Lim

Jung-Min Lim, daegeum artist

Daegeum artist Jung-Min Lim maintains active performance and teaching career in South Korea. The daegeum is a large Korean transverse bamboo flute.

Lim completed the National Intangible Cultural Property No. 1, Jongmyo Jereak and serves as a member of Daegeum Research Organization of Korea. She is currently a Lecturer of Daegeum at National Gugak Middle and High School in South Korea. After graduating the Gugak National High School, Lim received B.A. and M.A. Degrees in Korean Music at Seoul National University. She is now completing her Ph.D. in Korean Music at Seoul National University.

Wonkak Kim

Wonkak Kim, clarinet

Korean clarinetist Wonkak Kim has captivated audiences around the world with his “excellent breath control” (The Washington Post) and “exuberant musicianship” (Fanfare). Kim has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at major venues throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. A Naxos Recording Artist, he has garnered international acclaim with his extensive discography: Gulfstream, a collection of new American chamber music, received many distinctions, including“Music US Choice” (BBC Music Magazine), “Recording of the Month” (MusicWeb International), and American Record Guide Critic’s Choice, and was praised for its “very highest quality” (Gramophone, UK). The International Clarinet Association Journal lauded Kim’s “sensitive playing, a lovely sound and consummate facility” in François Devienne: Clarinet Sonatas. On his most recent Naxos release of Stephen Krehl’s Clarinet Quintet, American Record Guide wrote: “Kim renders the Clarinet Quintet with a clear and nicely rounded timbre…with seamless blend and excellent legato.” Kim’s live and recorded performances have been featured on Radio France, BBC Radio 3, Swedish Radio, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CJPX Radio Classique Québec, Hong Kong RTHK-HK, Korean Broadcasting System, and NPR stations around the United States.

Kim actively performs chamber music with many of the world’s leading artists and has appeared at festivals such as Astoria, BargeMusic, Chamber Music Northwest, ISCM Pan Music (South Korea), Norfolk, OK Mozart, Oregon Bach Festival, and Osaka (Japan). Constantly exploring the vast repertoires for clarinet and strings by composers ranging from Mozart to Zwilich, he has collaborated with dozens of today’s rising-star string quartets, including the Grammy-winning Attacca and Parker quartets. Kim is a founding member of enhakē, the clarinet-violin-cello-piano quartet, which is in its 12th season and has been praised for its “rock solid rhythmic integrity” as well as its “strength in balance, intonation, and musicality” (The New York Concert Review).

With enhakē, Kim has toured throughout the world, most notably at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Osaka’s Izumi Hall, Seoul Arts Center, International ClarinetFest, and the Promising Artists of the 21st Century Series in Costa Rica under the auspices of the US Department of State. His latest CD with enhakē entitled Prepárense: The Piazzolla Project on MSR has been described as “positively delightful…[t]he sense of ensemble is near-miraculous” (Fanfare) and received high praises from Gramophone: “The playing throughout is sublime…The intensity is real, the sounds gorgeous, the rhythm infectious…this version strides proudly alongside the legendary recording by Piazzolla himself.”

Kim was the first Korean clarinetist to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto on basset clarinet in a nationally broadcasted concert with Seungnam Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea. Since his debut with Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic in 2008, performing Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto (the performance that The Washington Post praised as a “winner”), Kim has consistently appeared as soloist with orchestras in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington D.C., as well as throughout South Korea and China.

More than 50 new works have been dedicated to or commissioned/premiered by Kim including Libby Larsen’s Rodeo Queen of Heaven for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (2010) at Carnegie Hall, Steve Landis’s Thronateeska Concerto (2015) with enhakē and Albany Symphony Orchestra, Peter Lieuwen’s Bright River for Clarinet and Piano (2014) at International ClarinetFest (Madrid, Spain), Hyunjung Ahn’s A Beautiful Polonaise for Clarinet and Piano (2018) at Clarimania (Wroclaw, Poland), Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Abgang and Kaddish Quartet (2019, not a commissioned work) with enhakē, and David Crumb’s Nocturne for Clarinet and Piano (2021). Kim also presented the Korean Premiere of Paul Moravec’s Tempest Fantasy (2014 Pulitzer Prize Winner) with Mirus Trio at Seoul Arts Center’s IBK Hall followed by a repeat performance at NYC’s Weill Recital Hall with the composer in the house.

Since 2019, Kim has dedicated much effort toward fostering intercultural collaborations with composers and performers from the worlds of both Korean traditional music and contemporary music. Kim commissioned over a dozen new works for clarinet by Korean composers and presented them at various international stages. Ongoing commissions include, works by Juri Seo, Eunseon Yu, Caroline Kyunga Ahn, and Jiyoung Chung.

Kim is Associate Professor of Clarinet at the University of Oregon School of Music where he has been teaching since 2017. He has received numerous faculty awards, including the Presidential Fellowship in Humanistic Studies (2020). Prior to his appointment at UO, Kim served as Associate Professor of Clarinet at Tennessee Tech University (2012-2017). He is regularly invited as a guest artist and teacher at world’s renowned institutions, including the Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Korea National University of Arts.

As a lecturer and speaker, Kim has been invited to over 150 conferences, seminars, and universities, including Harvard and Princeton, presenting wide-ranging topics in clarinet, musicianship, entrepreneurship, history, and culture. One of his recent lectures was included in the award-winning documentary called “Slow News” (2020), produced by the Milan-based IK Production. Kim is a College Music Society Ambassador to Korea and regularly invited as a guest professor in Korean universities and conservatories.

A native of South Korea, Kim grew up in Seoul and Paris, and moved to the United States at the age of 15. The same year, he began studying clarinet with Kenneth Lee, a disciple of the legendary pedagogue Leon Russianoff. Kim subsequently attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a distinguished scholarship, where he studied clarinet with Donald Oehler and received degrees in Mathematics and Music. He continued his graduate studies with Dr. Frank Kowalsky, earning MM and DM degrees at Florida State University. In 2014, Kim was inducted into FSU’s Thirty Under 30 and became the College of Music’s sole recipient of Governor Reubin O’D. Askew Young Alumni Award, “the highest honor bestowed upon its young alumni” (FSU Alumni Association).

Kim is Buffet Crampon, Silverstein, and Vandoren Performing Artist and plays exclusively on Buffet Tosca Clarinet and Vandoren products. To learn more about Wonkak Kim, please visit his website: www.wonkakkim.com.

Eunhye Grace Choi

Eunhye Grace Choi, piano

Korean pianist Eunhye Grace Choi joined Chamber Music Amici as a core musician in 2019, and is now Artistic Director. She has performed extensively throughout the United States, France, Belgium, the UK, and South Korea, and has recorded for Naxos, Emeritus, and Origin Classical. Her performances have also been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today.

A versatile keyboardist, she was harpsichord soloist for J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto cycle and collaborated with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. She is frequently invited as a resident pianist at competitions and conventions, including the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium.

Grace served as Collaborative Piano Faculty for six years at Eastern Music Festival, where she was the principal keyboardist of the Festival Orchestra with conductor Gerard Schwarz. She has also served as music faculty and collaborative pianist at The University of Oregon (2017-2018) and Tennessee Tech University (2013-2017). Here in Oregon, in addition to Amici, Grace performs regularly with the Oregon Bach Festival and Eugene Symphony.

Dr. Choi holds degrees from University of Minnesota (D.M.A., Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music), Florida State University (M.M., Collaborative Piano), and Yonsei University in South Korea (B.M. Composition).

Daniel De Togni

Daniel De Togni, shakuhachi

As a composer and artist who primarily works with sound, Daniel is fascinated with the concept of space in sound/music. Specifically, the psychological space that music inhabits in our minds as listeners, performers and/or creators, how sonic objects interact with each other in real-time and space, as well how a sound can evoke an image or landscape in our minds. It is truly astonishing how music can act as a catalyst between memory and real-time, and how by listening to a piece of music, or hearing a sound, a world/memory (that perhaps no longer exists) from many years ago can be recalled in the mind of the listener and can be inhabited again, if only for a brief moment.

Daniel's compositional style has been praised for its breadth and his ability to integrate a variety of sound worlds and influences into his music. Drawing from his Japanese and Italian heritage, Daniel's music is that of cross-pollination between genres and styles, and the exploration of sonic environments and the musical organisms that dwell in them. His focus is that of creating emotionally moving, auditory experiences for the listener.

His works have been performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Julius String Quartet, Hypercube, and the Delgani String Quartet, among others. His works have also been performed at Opera America NYC, in Japan, Taiwan, at the International Reed Society, June in Buffalo, the Alba Music Festival, the Hot Air Music Festival in San Francisco, Connecticut Summerfest, Fresh Inc Festival, New Music on the Point, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the American Music Festival, the UNK New Music Festival, as well as throughout the United States. In November of 2020, Daniel's music was featured on NPR's Arts & Letters with J. Bradley Minnick, in a feature regarding a multi-media collaboration with poet and visual artist Terry Wright, in which they discuss their interdisciplinary project Iterations: 4 Pieces for Narrator, Oboe and Piano.

Daniel is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition with a concurrent master's degree in music theory at the University of Oregon. Daniel has a Master of Music Degree in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as well as a Professional Studies Certificate in Technology and Applied Composition.

Robert Kyr

Robert Kyr,

Director & Composer-in-Residence

Robert Kyr (b. 1952) is a composer, writer, photographer, videographer, filmmaker, and interdiscplinary artist who has composed twelve symphonies, three chamber symphonies, three violin concerti, a piano concerto, chamber music, and more than 100 works for vocal ensembles of all types, including nine oratorios, fifteen cantatas, two passions, five motet cycles, and an All-Night Vigil. His music often explores themes related to conflict and reconciliation (peace-making), the environmental crisis (living in harmony with nature), and spiritual issues such as love, compassion, and forgiveness. His Songs of the Soul was premiered and recorded on Harmonia Mundi by Conspirare (Craig Hella Johnson, director), and hailed as “a powerful new achievement in American music that vividly traces a journey from despair to transcendence” (Wall Street Journal) and named by NPR on its “Best of the Year” list.

Kyr’s music was recognized with an Arts and Letters award for distinguished artistic achievement by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award citation stated, "Robert Kyr's powerful vision of fostering peace through music shines brightly and steadily in all his work, from the passionate and often ecstatic polyphonic motets of his Songs of the Soul, to the triumphant close of his trilogy of violin concertos, On the Nature of Peace. Kyr's music is intensely concerned with the human condition and the soul in its search for beauty and transcendence."

In 2021-2022, the premieres of Kyr’s music included two large-scale works: Earth Ritual with Conspirare Company of Voices (Craig Hella Johnson, conductor), and All-Night Vigil with Cappella Romana (Alexander Lingas, conductor). And during 2019-2020, his oratorio, Resurrection, was premiered by Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium (Scott Jarrett, conductor), and his Passion according to an Unknown Witness, was premiered by The Ensemble of Oregon, Trinity Choir, and 45th Parallel (Patrick McDonough, conductor). All of these works are being recorded for compact disc, and in 2021, Bridge Records will release a recording of ten choral works by Kyr (“In Praise of Music”), performed by the Antioch Chamber Ensemble (NYC). All of his music is published by ECS Publishing and recordings are available on the Bridge, Harmonia Mundi, Telarc, New Albion, Albany, and Cappella Romana labels.

Kyr’s music has been performed widely around the world and he has been commissioned by numerous ensembles, including Conspirare Company of Voices (Austin), Yale Camerata, Chanticleer (San Francisco), Cappella Romana (Portland), Cantus (Minneapolis), San Francisco Symphony Chorus, New England Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, New West Symphony (Los Angeles), Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, Oregon Repertory Singers, Cappella Nova (Scotland), Revalia (Estonia), Putni (Latvia), Moscow State Chamber Choir (Russia), Ensemble Project Ars Nova, Back Bay Chorale (Boston), and San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra among others.

Many compact discs of Kyr’s music are currently available on Harmonia Mundi, New Albion Records and other prominent labels:

In Praise of Music (Bridge Records) performed by the Antioch Chamber Ensemble (Joshua Copeland, conductor);

All-Night Vigil (Cappella Records) performed by Cappella Romana directed by Alexander Lingas;

Songs of the Soul and The Cloud of Unknowing (HMU 807577) performed by Conspirare under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson;

Kyr's chamber version of Barber’s “The Lovers” (HMU 807522) performed by Conspirare under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson;

Paradiso (Albany Records) performed by Notre Dame Vocale directed by Carmen-Helena Téllez;

Unseen Rain (NA 075), a disc of vocal music commissioned and recorded by Ensemble PAN (Project Arts Nova);

The Passion according to Four Evangelists (NA 098), commissioned and recorded by the Back Bay Chorale (Boston) under the direction of Beverly Taylor;

Violin Concerto Trilogy (NA 126) recorded by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble with Ron Blessinger and Denise Huizenga, and the composer conducting.

In addition, his music has been featured on several compilation discs recorded by women’s vocal ensemble, Tapestry (Laurie Monahan, director): Celestial Light: Music by Hildegard von Bingen and Robert Kyr (Telarc CD 80456); Faces of a Woman (MDG 344-1468); and The Fourth River: The Millennium Revealed (Telarc CD 80534).

Kyr's music has been performed widely around the world. He has been commissioned by numerous ensembles, including Conspirare (Austin), Cappella Romana (Portland), Chanticleer (San Francisco), Antioch Chamber Ensemble (NYC), Concerto Palatino, Washington (D.C.) Master Chorale, The Ensemble of Oregon (Portland), Chorus Austin, Cantus (Minneapolis), Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, Yale Camerata, Notre Dame Vocale, Oregon Repertory Singers, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Pacific Youth Choir (Portland), San Francisco Symphony Chorus, New England Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, New West Symphony (Los Angeles), Cappella Nova (Scotland), Revalia (Estonia), Putni (Latvia), Moscow State Chamber Choir (Russia), Ensemble Project Ars Nova, Back Bay Chorale (Boston), and San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, among many others.

Kyr’s projects have been supported by major foundations and institutes, including the Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Paul G. Allen Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the Robert D. Baker Memorial Fund for Sacred Music at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Boston University/Marsh Chapel, University of Chicago/Rockefeller Chapel, Ann Stookey Fund for New Music, Oregon Regional Arts and Cultural Council, Hult Endowment for the Arts, Collins Foundation, and Templeton Foundation.

In 1974, Kyr graduated summa cum laude from Yale University (B. A. with exceptional distinction in Scholar of the House) and continued his education at the Royal College of Music (London), and at Dartington Summer School for the Arts, where he studied with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Kyr completed his M. A. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978, studying with George Rochberg and George Crumb. In 1989, he received his Ph. D. from Harvard University, where he studied with Donald Martino and Earl Kim. He has held teaching positions in composition and theory at Yale University, UCLA, Hartt School of Music, and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Aspen Music School, and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A dedicated mentor and teacher of composition, Kyr is Philip H. Knight Professor of Music at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, where he directs the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (since 1994), the Music Today Festival (since 1993), the Vanguard Concert & Workshop Series (since 1991), and the Pacific Rim Gamelan & World Orchestra (since 1991). Moreover, he is mentor and composer-in-residence for the Harvard Choruses New Music Initiative (2016- ) directed by Andrew Clark, which is committed to developing a comprehensive pedagogy for composers of choral music.

Beyond his artistic and scholarly endeavors, Kyr has taken a leadership role in faculty governance, both in Oregon and nationwide. He served three terms as President of the University of Oregon Senate, a legislative body that includes faculty, students, Officers of Administration, Officers of Research, and Classified Staff. Moreover, for two terms, he was President of the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate of Oregon, a body representing the senate leadership of all eight Oregon public institutions of higher education, as well as the founding president of the PAC12 Academic Leadership Coalition (two terms), which is comprised of academic leaders from all of the PAC-12 universities.