BIO
Pianist/composer Eunhye Jeong is a creative musician with a critical mind that keeps expanding her musical world with diligent research. She is about to release her fourth album [The Colliding Beings, Chi-Da], a live recording of her latest concert in Seoul, Korea, featuring internationally acclaimed Pansori master Il-dong Bae. She currently performs two major projects Chi-Da and TVV Quartet and is working on a new piece that features visuals and electronics called KM-53.
She has performed with legendary Wadada Leo Smith, a multiple awards-winner, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and an innovative composer/trumpeter as a pianist of NDA ensemble which performed one of most ECM’s celebrted albums <Divine Love> at the third CREATE Festival. She also performed duo with highly acclaimed cellist/improviser/composer Okkyung Lee and recorded with Pansori master Il-dong Bae. As a composer, she co-wrote the score for a short film “Ancestry” with Munyungo Jackson, the Stevie Wonder’s percussionist. She also performed in a renowned places such as Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), UN Headquarter (NY), colleges such as Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, etc.
She recently presented her talk <Improvising to Create the Aged Now> as one of the panels in the colloquium <Agile Futures: Approaching Improvisation> hosted by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) in British Columbia University in Vancouver, Canada.
“bold talent and creative energy in abundance... ”
“raw but by no means devoid of linear elegance, the courageous (and admissibly complete) expression of the motivated pianist exerts a work of great caliber, to be known and re-evaluated over time. ”
The previous records Turtle Suite (2014), Chi-Da (2018) and 2 Begets 3 (2018) are each in a disparate musical language on the surface and show the traces of her musical transformation. Yet, the core of her seemingly elusive musical directions remains firm, as the artist says. One of the ongoing themes Jeong reinforced since 2011, the year she began her research on the traditional music of Korea, is to revive the historical and cultural continuum that is severed both forcefully and voluntarily over time. After participating International Gugak Workshop in 2011 in National Gugak Center, she founded Sigimsae – Berklee Korean Traditional Music Society and contributed the cultural diversity in Berklee community through concerts and workshops. These activities crystalized in <Jindo Arirang>, the title track of her debut album [Turtle Suite] released in 2015. The music and the album were introduced via Korean national media such as SBS Love FM and Gugak FM and magazines such as MM Jazz, Jazz People.
Jeong’s understanding of Korean traditional music has deepened after learning Pansori and its principle, vocalization and philosophical meanings under Pansori master Il-dong Bae. The study took place every summer between 2015 and 2019, which enabled her to not depend on the formal aspect of the traditional music but to courageously seek originality by operating her own musical protocols based on the fundamental principle of Pansori and Korean traditional music.
Jeong owes to many musics and musicians that offered the timeless beauty and the essence of their existence. She had a chance to be mentored by the living greats including award-winning film composer George S. Clinton known best for his scores for Austin Powers series, and Mortal Kombats, international jazz pianist/composer Vadim Neselovskyi, and the MacArthur “Genius” fellowship award recipients Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey, whom she met through Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in 2017. Most recently, upon discovering the world of "creative music" mainly of AACM and the musicians in the lineage, she began to explore the musical vehicle that better transports her inspirations. This contributed to her recently published project Three Voices from the Valley.
Other writing works include scores for two short films, an award-winning film Payphone (2014) and Ancestry (2015) which she co-wrote with Munyungo Jackson, the percussionist of Stevie Wonder. She also arranged projects of award-winning international artists such as Albino Mbie and Nizar Fares and a recognizable production such as ROTU.
Eunhye Jeong is currently living in Boston, traveling between the US and Korea, creating, performing, improvising, writing, and teaching.