Join the UConn Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Janet 성은 Kim as they present their spring concert. We’re happy to announce that our piece KHRONOS will be performed during the event!
About Dr. Janet 성은 Kim:
Dr. Janet 성은 (Song-eun, or Song, for short) Kim (any pronouns) is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Music and director of the Wind Ensemble at the University of Connecticut. In this role, they will conduct the UCONN Wind Ensemble in addition to teaching conducting and wind literature classes.
Before this appointment, Kim most recently served as the Director of Instrumental Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where they taught courses in Conducting, Arranging and Orchestration, and Saxophone Lessons, while leading the Pep Band, Jazz Band, and University Symphonic Band.
Kim earned their doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from The Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to this, they earned a master of arts degree in instrumental conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and their bachelor of music degree in music education and jazz studies, magna cum laude, from Montclair State University. During their time at Montclair State University, Kim also had the opportunity to study composition with jazz composer/trombonist Alan Ferber and learned orchestration from composer/arranger Patrick Burns. Their primary conducting teachers include Dr. Travis J. Cross, Dr. Timothy A. Paul, Dr. Jason Worzbyt, and Dr. Shelley Axelson.
Kim began their career as a band director and conductor at Northern Valley Demarest High School and went on to be a band director at several other public schools in the state of New Jersey. They led ensembles to perform at Region Band Festivals, District Band Festivals, and successfully brought home gold and silver ratings during their time as a public-school educator. While studying as a graduate student at UCLA, they took a deep interest in audio technology and electronic music. During that time in Los Angeles, they also served as the Associate Director of the Peninsula Symphonic Winds based in San Pedro, CA and led a fully virtual ensemble through the pandemic. As they finished their coursework, Kim was hired by UCLA to teach Audio Technology 101 because of their interests in Audio Technology.
Kim is an active guest conductor and clinician, and has current invitations to work with honor bands in the United States and in South Korea. Additionally, as a proud member of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ community, and ardent advocate for DEI, Kim is the founder and director of the Early Career Program under the non-profit organization Girls Who Conduct and is a volunteer coordinator for And We Were Heard. They have presented at the 2022 Nebraska State Bandmasters Association conference about incorporating diversified programming practices, tokenism of BIPOC composers, and the impact of visibility. They have also been on panels regarding BIPOC and LGBT+ topics such as Diversifying Our Musical Consumption and Gender Presentation.
About UConn Wind Ensemble:
During the past fifty years, the music world has witnessed the development of a new approach to the wind band, an approach that has drawn attention to an emerging original repertoire and to new performance possibilities for concerted wind music. Many conductors, composers and performers have moved from the popular-culture aspects of the traditional band toward a classical performance-based medium.
Using an instrumentation similar to that of a “double orchestral wind section”, the wind ensemble performs music composed during the past five centuries for winds, brass, percussion and keyboards. A majority of the repertoire composed specifically for various combinations of these instruments has been created during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. With the rich history of the past, the contemporary wind ensemble provides a wide variety of music ranging from the classical octet to contemporary chamber repertoire and the sonorous full ensemble.
A number of distinguished composers have chosen the University of Connecticut Wind Ensemble to premiere and perform their works. The list includes Michael Torke, Michael Daugherty, Eric Ewazen, Karel Husa, Stephen Grye, Anthony Iannaccone, Warren Benson, Jared Spears, William Penn, Daniel Kellogg, Morton Gould, Joseph Schwantner, and John Harbison.
The ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall on two occasions. First, in 1996, at the request of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in “A Tribute to Morton Gould”. In 2012, video of this performance was featured on the Morton Gould website sponsored by the Carnegie Hall Foundation. Again in 2004 with “Musical Offerings: Recent Music Commissioned by Raymond and Berverly Sackler.”
Three compact discs have been released since the year 2000. A fourth disc of historical versions of The Star-Spangled Banner that document the history and evolution of our national anthem is in production. “The Star-Spangled Banner; A History in Sound” will also include editions for vocal soloists, organ and jazz ensemble.
Performances by the Wind Ensemble have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and WGBH Boston’s “Art of the States”.
The Frederick Fennell Repertoire Archives is ongoing project that brings the internationally renowned conductor and founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, to campus annually to study in depth the wind band classics of Holst, Vaughan Williams, Grainger, Persichetti, and others. Interviews, performance analyses, facsimiles of Dr. Fennell’s scores and parts, and video documentary of rehearsals and performances are archived and are available for study by conductors from all over the world.
After hearing the wind ensembles second CD Frederick Fennell had these remarks. “ I listen to several wind band recordings every week. Your CD for Ludwig music is the best recording of its kind I have heard in ten years. Musicianship, intonation, articulation, phrasing, sound – it’s all there. It does not sound like a university group – it is professional all the way.”
In 2002 and 2005 the Wind Ensemble was honored with Downbeat Magazine’s Award for “Best Classical Instrumentalists” in the university symphonic category.
Jeffrey H. Renshaw was the conductor and director of the Wind Ensemble from 1993-2017, when he retired. The Wind Ensemble is now under the direction of Dr. Janet 성은 Kim.
This concert is $0 - 10 and open to the public.
Doors open at 7:30 PM, Concert begins at 8 PM
A Live Stream can be watched HERE