What happens when Western classical music and Korean traditional music meet and interact? Cellist Sol Daniel Kim from Austria and gayageum player Dayoung Yoon from Korea answer this question musically as CelloGayageum. Since first collaborating in Berlin in 2016, the duo’s artistry has evoked recognition from Korea’s prominent cultural institutions; they have received Soorim Cultural Foundation’s eponymous Culture Prize, a grant from Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture—which generously financed their debut album, South Wave, North Wind—and Jeongdong Theater’s “Artist of the Year” award. Currently, CelloGayageum is based in Seoul and concertizes internationally. Their most recent performances have taken them to Poland and the US.
IMAGE CAPTION: Concert program, photographed with permission.
On June 17th, 2023, I attended CelloGagaygeum’s concert in Mountain View, California, which was a musical celebration of the 70 years of the Korea-US alliance co-hosted by the Korean American Cultural Foundation and the Silicon Valley Korean American Federation. After an opening performance of Western classical music by musicians Melissa Whang, Eunjoo Shin, and Minji Kim, CelloGayageum performed nine of their own pieces, including one encore. Intercultural friendship also bookended the event: Daniel Woo, President of the SVKAF and Chairman of the KACF, Consul General Sangsoo Yoon of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, and Madam Mayor of the City of Santa Clara Lisa M. Gillmor gave welcoming and congratulatory speeches respectively before the musical performances; and at the concert’s end, the Madam Mayor awarded special mayoral certificates to Consul General Yoon, the Silicon Valley Korean American Federation, and each artist of CelloGayageum.
Backstage, Sol Daniel and Dayoung graciously posed for a photo for our readers and also kindly accepted an interview which was conducted over email on July 2nd. I was eager to learn more about CelloGayageum’s creative process and musical cultural exchange in their own words.
Q: Dear Sol Daniel and Dayoung, thank you for the gift of your music and time. During the concert, you shared how places, feelings, experiences and imagination have inspired your compositions. Would you tell us a bit about how you compose?
Sol Daniel: We are composing all of our pieces together. Our workflow could be sort of described as a collaborative design process—all starts of course with a spark of inspiration. From there we basically brainstorm and exchange musical ideas, which are then put into an individual frame. From there on it would be a constant process of adding and subtracting textures and layers until we are satisfied with our piece. It is worth to mention that we try to always start from scratch, so that we avoid repeating ourselves.
Q: Onstage, there were moments when you sounded like other instruments—such as drums or guitar—and sounds from nature, i.e. the breeze. Does composing/collaborating stimulate rediscovery of your respective instruments and their possibilities?
Dayoung: Yes it definitely does. Since we are just two people on stage, it is always a challenge not to sound too empty, unless one of our pieces requires that kind of sound. So given the restrictions of just having two wooden acoustic instruments it becomes kind of second nature to think out of the box and search for new sounds that are possible on our instruments. Composing also stimulates our creativity a lot since we don't want to sound "obvious", if it makes sense. The search for the WOW factor is one of any composer’s biggest challenges. That goes for music from the renaissance up until today's producers in every genre.
Q: What have you learned from each other’s musical tradition/background and approach to composing and performing?
Sol Daniel: I am a full-blooded Korean, but was born and raised in Vienna/Austria. So I didn't have any exposure to Korean traditional art forms. Since I have met Dayoung my view towards music as a whole has changed dramatically. Korean traditional music for somebody like me with a Western music education did sound more contemporary and new than "old" and traditional. I learned about myself that I was very "limited" as a classical musician and had a narrow view and understanding of music. Now I appreciate so much more any form and genre of music and admire all artists, who create their own music.
Dayoung: It is the same for me. Since I had almost no exchange with other forms of music other than "Gugak" (traditional Korean music), I had a limited understanding of classical music or any other genre. Since I have met Sol Daniel, who had already a very broad musical spectrum, I have learned a lot and evolved into a new musician.
Q: Please tell us about your next album. Who/what/which influences and styles of music are inspiring your compositions right now?
Dayoung: Our 2nd album is going to be called [2.0]. We like to be very direct when it comes to our music and work, so like our team name we've chosen to call our 2nd album [2.0]. The difference to our 1st album could be described as more “colorful," since we tried to experiment with different genres and styles. It will also feature solo works from us both, to highlight our different musical styles as well.
Overall it should be a very fun and interesting album to listen to, so stay tuned!
Sol Daniel: Inspiration is an interesting topic. Since we try to stay up-to-date with the styles and genres that are "hip" we try to listen to a lot of different music genres and artists. That ranges from Jazz to K-Pop. But everyday items or obvious stuff, such as the air we are breathing, or the water that we drink becomes interesting for us when we treat it as a source for new music.
Q: Where can we see and hear more of your music?
Sol Daniel: We have a tour schedule coming up in October where we visit London and Canada is also on the list for this year. Next year is going to be a long tour through the whole U.S. so stay up to date with our instagram account @cellogayageum !
We're also on every digital platform like Apple Music and Spotify so tune in and enjoy :-)
Dayoung: Thank you so much for liking our music and we hope to record our 3rd album soon as well, since we already have a lot of new pieces! It is always such a pleasure to have people listening to our music, so we are not going to stop producing new music!
How about this article?
- Like3
- Support1
- Amazing1
- Sad0
- Curious0
- Insightful0