Jeong-Jung-Dong (靜中動) for Solo Beopgeum and Six Instruments (2026)

SangJin Kim: Jeong-Jung-Dong (靜中動) for Solo Beopgeum and Six Instruments (2026) [Program Note] Jeong-Jung-Dong (靜中動), literally meaning “movement within stillness,” describes a state that appears calm and serene on the surface while containing continuous motion within. It is a concept that embodies a central aesthetic of traditional Korean art. The work takes as its starting point the slow, expansive breathing of jeongak (traditional Korean court and literati music) and the intimate chamber-music texture of seak (a small-ensemble tradition in Korean music). From there, it follows the surviving traces of the gayageum found in historical scores and written sources. The Akhak Gwebeom, a fifteenth-century Korean treatise on music, contains a description of a form of tablature for the gayageum. However, no actual scores written in this notation are known to have survived. Responding to this historical absence, the work uses the beopgeum, regarded as the classical and original form of the gayageum, to imagine how the instrument might once have been played. Within a restrained sound world, subtle and constantly shifting movements gradually unfold throughout the ensemble. World Premiere September 12, 2026, 3:00 PM Tongyeong Concert Hall, Tongyeong, South Korea Conductor: Michael Wendeberg Beopgeum: Youjin Sung Ensemble Modern & Ensemble TIMF Commissioned by TIMF Academy 2026 Composition Faculty: Unsuk Chin, Dieter Ammann