Guest Artist Performance: Jazz Meets Pansori

Friday, February 14, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Allendale Campus
Alumni, Community, Faculty, Staff, Students

This is a unique opportunity to experience jazz and Pansori, which is a traditional form of Korean storytelling music. Jazz and Pansori have certain similarities, such as improvisation and audience involvement.

An award-winning jazz pianist and educator, Lisa Sung, will collaborate with Pansori singer Hee Won Park from Korea.

Lisa Sung is an award winning jazz educator and performer who received highest artistic development award though the John Stites Jazz award in 2022. Lisa has performed and recorded with Terell Stafford, Rodney Whitaker, Ron McClure, Stafford Hunter, Rob Smith, Thomas Knific, Diego Rivera, Dmitri Methany, Jordan VanHemert, John Webber, and many other prominent musicians. Lisa's passion is to interpret Asian Melodie into jazz. She recorded an album of traditional Korean children's songs "Half Moon" .
Ms Sung is an adjunct professor at Calvin University and Aquinas College. She also directs Calvin Universityýs jazz band and co- directs the gospel choir. This fall, Ms. Sung began her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) program at the University of Michigan and was honored with the prestigious Rachem Merit Fellowship. Lisa studied at Temple University with Terell Stafford, Thomas Lawton, and completed her graduate studies at NYU with Ron McClure, Don Friedman. Recently, sponsored by JSJA, she had a successful Indonesia, Korea and Vietnam tour. Lisa trio was featured in CNN Indonesia. Also Lisa's quartet performing Vietnamese children songs at the first international jazz festival in Nha Trang was broadcasted nationally. Ms. Sung will continue to tour Philippine and Stuttgart, Germany in 2025.

Hee-won Park
Pansori Performer and Educator, Hee-won Park, has been recognized for her excellence with numerous awards including the Prime Minister’s Award (2019) after performing at the Namwon Chunhyang Gugak Festival and the KBS Gugak Award (2021). At the age of 4, Hee-won Park became intrigued by pansori under her grandfather’s influence. She studied with masters Gye-hyang Park, Hae-sung Nam, and Soo-jung Chae and quickly went on to master all five traditional pansori repertories by her early 20s.

After specializing in Korean Traditional Music at Gugak National High School, Hee-won Park completed her B.A. in Korean Traditional Music & Korean Literature and M.A. in Korean Studies at Ewha Womens University. Hee-won Park continued her studies in Seoul, South Korea and received her Ph.D. Candidate in Education from Ewha Womans University. Hee-won Park was a devoted Member and Board Director of "Pansori Factory Badaksori," contributing to family musicals and creative works (2012–2021). She also served as music director for The Dance of Sincere Heart: Usimhan Musim (2023). Additionally, Hee-won Park directed and composed pansori scenes in the play Taming of the Shrew (2023).

Internationally, Hee-won Park has performed in the U.S., Japan, Australia, Brazil, China, and Thailand. She has also performed jazz and pansori with the Lisa Sung Trio (2023). Hee-won Park’s most notable release include her singles "The Very Best" (2021) and "Dance with Me" (2021). Currently, Hee-won Park is a Lecturer at Kyung Hee University Graduate School of Education where she designs and conducts pansori education programs for diverse groups, including multicultural children and adults. Hee-won Park will be going on tour with Lisa Sung Trio in February in Michigan.

Location Information

Sherman van Solkema Recital Hall

Download parking map for the Allendale Campus

Contact Information

Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
(616) 331-3484

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This event was added to the calendar by Bridgett Vanderhoof (vandebri@gvsu.edu) on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 and was last updated on Thursday, December 19, 2024 at 6:32 p.m.