Brief Introduction of the Program
“Root-Route” refers to the “deep root and infinite route” as a metaphor of the profound Korean traditional art and its immense reach and extension. Carried out by the School of Korean Traditional Arts at Korea National University of Arts, known for their dedication to preserving and developing traditional arts, the project introduces the “infinite” charm of traditional arts to the Taiwanese audience for the first time through its rich and fascinating music, dance, traditional drama, and original music.
Brief Introduction of the Troupe
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, Korea National University of Arts encompasses all aspects of the art with an aim to nurture creative and talented professional artists. Its School of Korean Traditional Arts focuses on the academic studies of the traditional arts which centers on music, song, and dance, as it also prepares the artists with high-level performance skills that responds to a new era. Rather than a reproduction of the past, it embraces the core educational value to “inherit and renovate,” making tradition a part of its creation, and vice versa.
CHUNG SOO NEON / Haegeum
YOU YOUNGJU / Geomun-go
CHAE SOOJUNG / Pansori
JIN YUNKYONG / Korean Pipe
KIM HYUNGSUB / Gayageum
PARK EUN YOUNG / Korean Traditional Dance
LEE SO JUNG / Folk Dance
KIM WONMIN / Pungmul
PARK IN SOO / Mask Dance
LEE GUI SOOK / Korean Traditional Music Composition
CHUNG SOO NEON / Haegeum
CHUNG is currently a professor at the School of Korean Traditional Arts, Korea National University of Arts; president of the Haegeum Research Institute; and artistic director of Korea Haegeum Ensemble. With a bachelor’s degree from Chung-ang University and a master’s degree from Seoul National University, she once served as lead Haegeum of the KBS Traditional Orchestra. Accolades won over the years include the KBS Gugak Awards (wind instruments) in 1998, Awards for Today’s Young Artists from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2000, and the Korea Assembly Grand Award in 2007.
To date, she has released such studio albums as Fated Unison, Sodam a Joke, Beautiful Things in Life, and CHUNG SOO NEON’s Haegeum World. Her solo recitals include CHUNG SOO NEON’s Haegeum World—Thinking of the Moon, CHUNG SOO NEON’s Haegeum World—Monologue, CHUNG SOO NEON’s Haegeum World—Jesting, and Beautiful Things in Life.
To promote her Haegeum world, CHUNG has collaborated not only with Korea’s leading traditional orchestras but also with art groups across the U.S., Japan (Tokyo), Germany, the U.K., Austria (Vienna), the Czech Republic (Prague), China, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Mongolia.
YOU YOUNGJU / Geomungo
A native of Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, YOU set out with traditional dance and Gayageum at childhood and soon shone at an Asian arts festival. She later majored in Geomungo at a national traditional music senior high school and emerged as a grand prize winner at the 2nd East Asia Traditional Music Competition. With a doctorate in music from Hanyang University, she was a chief player of Seoul Traditional Music Orchestra and awarded for string music performance at the 2014 KBS Gugak Awards. As a “finisher” of “Geomungo Sanjo of the Han Gap-deuk School,” an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea, she is now also a director of the Wolha Foundation for Art and Culture, Korean Traditional Arts Inheritance Association, and Asia Zither Musicians Association; a member of the Gajin Music Association and Korean Traditional Gagok-Pungnyu Conservation Society; and traditional arts director at the Education Center for the Gifted in Arts, Korea National University of Arts.
To date she has given 12 solo recitals. Since her fourth solo in 2010, she was joined by K-ARTS Korean Geomungo Ensemble in performances on the theme of “Scenery Painted With Geomungo.” Through such endeavors, she seeks to expand the Geomungo repertoire and ascertain the identity of Korean music while promoting both traditional and contemporary works. Her exploration of music needed in this era and the cultural content thereof goes a long way toward enriching Korean music. YOU is now a professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Music, Korea National University of Arts.
CHAE SOOJUNG / Pansori
A “finisher” of the pansori epic chants, Korea’s 5th Intangible Cultural Heritage, CHAE won the 19th Imbangul Gugak Festival’s President Prize for Pansori in 2011. She started the World Pansori Association in 2022 to further promote and popularize this genre worldwide. She is now a professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Music, Korea National University of Arts.JIN YUNKYONG / Korean Pipe
As a Korean pipe player and researcher, JIN is committed to both preserving traditional music and addressing it academically. Her approach is one of deconstruction and reconstruction to integrate past and present. On top of her bachelor’s degree in music from the Korea National University of Arts and master’s degree in Korean traditional musicology from Seoul National University, she holds a doctorate in musicology from the Academy of Korean Studies. Jin, a winner of the 2018 KBS Gugak Awards (wind instruments), used to be deputy concertmaster of the National Gugak Center Creative Traditional Orchestra and a professor at the Department of Korean Music, Pusan National University before becoming a professor at the Korea National University of Arts.KIM HYUNG SUB / Gayageum
Graduating from Seoul National University in 2005, KIM earned his doctorate in music performance studies from Hanyang University in 2018. In 2003, he won presidential prize at the National Gugak Center’s National Gugak Competition. From 2007 to 2023, he was devoted to preserving Korea’s court music and traditional music while working at the National Gugak Center’s Korean Traditional Music Band. In 2023, he started teaching students to play gayageum at the Korea National University of Arts.PARK EUN YOUNG / Korean Traditional Dance
PARK entered Yewon Art Junior High School in 1973. After graduating from School of Performing Arts Seoul, she went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Korean dance from Ewha Womans University and doctorate in dance science from Hanyang University.
In 1982, PARK became the court dance master KIM CHUN HEUNG’s apprentice and, one year later, joined the National Gugak Center, where she established the Chunaengjeon Society for the research, education, and promotion of court dance.
LEE SO JUNG / Folk Dance
On top of her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Korean Traditional Dance, Korea National University of Arts, LEE also holds a doctorate in dance from Kyunghee University. She spent 19 years as a dancer of National Dance Company of Korea and was designated as a “finisher” of Taepyongmoo (the 92nd National Intangible Cultural Asset) and as an “apprentice” of Seungmoo (the 27th National Intangible Cultural Asset). Her engagement in traditional dance, dance drama, folk dance, and contemporary dance includes collaboration with overseas choreographers on more than one occasion. Keen to preserve the archetypes of traditional dance as the foundation for developing modern innovations, she focuses on drawing from traditional dance repertoire to bring together past and present. She is now a professor at the Department of Dance Performance, School of Korean Traditional Arts, Korea National University of Arts.KIM WONMIN / Pungmul
KIM earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Theatre Studies, Korea National University of Arts before receiving his doctorate in literature from Korea University. He has taken part in a good number of Siheung pungmul and traditional puppetry performances and won such accolades as the Special Award for Artists in Gyeonggido and prime minister award at the Gimje Horizon Festival’s National Agricultural Music Contest. Having served as artistic director of the DMZ Peace Art Festival and Asian Traditional Drama Festival, he is now artistic director of Siheung Traditional Art Company and a professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Dramatic Performing Arts, Korea National University of Arts.PARK IN SOO / Mask Dance
PARK studied different branches of Korean Mask Dance and came up with his own dramatic works. His performance is a means of communication with the audience. His papers on the principles of Mask Dance went on to become the foundation of his various works centering on this genre. PARK now teaches Korean traditional Mask Dance as a professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Dramatic Performing Arts, Korea National University of Arts.LEE GUI SOOK / Korean Traditional Music Composition
LEE, who received her doctoral degree in composition from The Ohio State University, won three prizes at the 26th, 27th, and 28th Seoul Music Festival, grand prize at the 8th AHN EAK TAE Composition Competition, and grand prize at the 4th HanMinZok Composition Competition. While LEE has been invited to present her compositions at multiple music festivals, Ravello Records of the U.S. released the CD “The Music of Gui Sook Lee.”
LEE focused on composing traditional orchestral pieces while working at the National Gugak Center. Her works were selected by the prestigious ARKO (Arts Council Korea) Festival for Korean New Music for three years in a row. Also winner of grand prize at the 32nd Korea Competition Awards in the category of Korean traditional music, she is now a professor at the Department of Korean Traditional Music Composition, Korea National University of Arts.