Hyelim Kim
Composer recipient 2023
Hyelim Kim is a composer, creator, academic and solo performer of the Korean daegeum flute. Her compositional style is shaped by her background in performance training and instrumental practice alongside her academic training as an ethnomusicologist. Conceptually, her work depicts dynamics within various binary dichotomies: traditional/contemporary, performer/composer, improvisation/composition, and Western/non-Western.
Hyelim studied at the National Gugak (Korean Traditional Music) High School and Seoul National University, focusing on perfecting the basics of the daegeum. Her exploration of how this tradition could be exploited in a different context led to her deciding to study abroad, first in Australia and then the UK. Since moving to the UK, Hyelim has actively used her traditional training working with a variety of performers from around the world, including in contemporary classical, jazz, improvisation, electroacoustics, and folk music. In her collaborations, she has embraced the musical cultures of her collaborators while also introducing them to the musical aesthetics, notation, and composition techniques of Korea.
“This award will enable me to effectively use my expertise in Asian musical traditions to contribute to the cultural diversity of the UK, not only in terms of societal cultures but also the cultures of the natural environment. I am so grateful to be able to develop a creative dialogue that empowers different voices equally. The award would provide me with the platform and space to properly listen, learn and collaborate with everyone, across different languages, media and cultures.”
As an ethnomusicologist, Hyelim’s main field of research is Practice Research, which analyses performances as academic objects. Her works focus on the processes involved in creating new music across cultural boundaries, with an emphasis on the adaptation and transformation of languages of sound, notation and gesture. It considers the fluid relationships between composers and performers and the processes of invention in traditional music through experimentation and improvisation.
After completing her PhD in Ethnomusicology at the University of London, Hyelim is currently a visiting research fellow at Bath Spa University, with a monograph published by Routledge in 2022. Her album, Sensitive to Light, with two of the UK’s leading improvisers, Mark Sanders (drums) and John Edwards (double bass) was recorded and published by Strikes Records in February 2023.
Examples of work
WOOD, 2019
A piece from the collaborative album Out of Time with jazz drummer Simon Barker, released by LIZ Music in September 2019 with sponsorship from Arts Council Korea. 1 minute 55 seconds duration. The project was also featured at various festivals (Melbourne Art Centre Recital series, MONA, and Korean Cultural Centre UK). The instruments used by Barker in this piece were a combination of Korean and Western percussion, including the large Korean gong ‘jing‘, the small gong ‘kkwaenggwari‘, chains, snare drums and large drums.
IMYEON, 2022
Composed and performed by Hyelim Kim (daegeum), with Jihye Kim (janggu drum). 9 minutes 5 seconds duration (2 minute extract). Performed at the National Gugak Centre (Korean National Performing Arts Centre) on 12 February 2022.
DANSANG – THE CITY, 2020
Short film directed, composed and performed by Hyelim Kim. 5 minutes 16 seconds duration (2 minute extract). Funded by the PRS Foundation, this film won the Best Sound & Music Award at the Los Angeles Experimental Film Festival 2020.
DAEGEUM IN MOTION, 2019
Performed by Hyelim Kim (daegeum) and Joel Bell (guitar) and filmed by Suki Mok. 2 minutes 12 seconds extract. This project was inspired by the five dynamics of dance theorist Rudolf Laban. This recital was performed at Siobhan Davies Studios, London.