Breaking Boundaries: Joo Jeong-hyeon and Choi Jae-hyuck Team Up for Unique Performance
Daniel Kim Views
At Sejong Center’s Sync Next25, haegeum virtuoso Joo Jeong-hyeon teams up with classical composer Choi Jae-hyuck for a groundbreaking performance 
Sejong Center for the Performing Arts has been keeping tabs on composer-conductor Choi Jae-hyuck and haegeum player-composer Joo Jeong-hyeon since launching its summer contemporary music series, The Sync Next, in 2022.
As part of the Sync Next 25 program running from July to September at Sejong Center’s S Theater, this performance is a match made in musical heaven. It pairs Choi’s ensemble, Ensemble Blank, with Joo, a boundary-pushing haegeum player whose work spans performance, composition, and video. Talk about a dynamic duo!
\”Joo is a master of improvisation – she’s known for mixing the haegeum with other elements in ways that’ll blow your mind,\” Choi dished during a recent chat. \”We, on the other hand, are all about those precisely notated scores. So we thought, why not shake things up and blend the two? Some parts are composed, others are improvised. It’s pushing us both out of our comfort zones, which is exactly why we think the audience is in for a real treat.\”
Choi, who made waves as the youngest-ever winner of the Geneva International Music Competition’s composition category in 2017, leads Ensemble Blank, a contemporary group that’s all about pushing the envelope with their programming.
\”Both Ensemble Blank and I are always pondering what it means to be truly contemporary, and how we can achieve that,\” Joo explained. \”So this collaboration is all about creating sound together – building something amazing as a team, rather than just showcasing our individual talents.\”
By the way, Joo is a total rising star – she’s snagged the Korea National Academy of Arts’ Young Artist Award for 2024.
Get ready for a musical rollercoaster ride on Friday and Saturday! The show kicks off with Alexander Schubert’s 2014 piece Serious Smile, a high-energy, rhythmic banger. Then, prepare for a 180-degree turn with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s Ave Maria a 8 voci from 1572, arranged for wind and string instruments – it’s like a zen moment of Renaissance bliss.
Joo then takes center stage for a solo haegeum improvisation that’ll showcase her unique blend of technical prowess and spontaneous creativity.
The night also features the Asian premiere of Jessie Cox’s \”Quantify,\” a mind-bending 2017 piece that plays with sound, identity, and time.
To cap it all off, get ready for the world premiere of Joo’s \”Primitive Happiness,\” a brand-new audiovisual masterpiece created just for Ensemble Blank that mixes live instruments with video.
The stage design for this show is as innovative as the music itself. Picture this: a small triangular stage and a larger triangular stage facing each other like an hourglass, with the audience right in the middle of the action.
As Choi and Joo (both ’94 babies) and Ensemble Blank explore this musical wonderland where familiar meets unexpected, Choi emphasized how important it is to simply know that these artistic experiences exist.
\”Even if it feels weird at first, just being exposed to it becomes part of your world – something you can come back to, draw inspiration from, and eventually express in your own way,\” he said.
Joo chimed in with her thoughts on Korean audiences.
\”Lately, as I’ve been performing more in Korea, I’ve noticed that Korean audiences are super open to all kinds of new experiences. Especially the younger crowd – they’re all about those thrilling, dopamine-rush experiences without any hesitation,\” she observed.
\”So maybe what we’re doing won’t feel all that out-there after all.\”
Catch this mind-blowing performance at Sejong Center’s S Theater: Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.
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