KIM JONGHOON

1 Dec 1999

Korea

Papel

„This work has as its content the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, when humankind spoke one single language. Built after the Flood in the times of Noah, Babel was intended to save the people from God’s threat of punishing them with another flood. However, the undertaking of building Babel had the result of the people being scattered since God had confused their tongues. The people had forgotten the promise and continued sinning before God and focused on building Babel only to avoid his judgment. When God saw this, he said that nothing would stop them unless he went down to confuse their tongues. That is why the title is not Babel but “Papel”. It was the desire of humankind to reach Heaven against the will of God and in the face of his wrath incurred by their sins. In order to express that, I had distorted the word “Babel” to “Papel” which has a stronger accent than ’Babel’. This is expressed by the use of strong accent and short 32nd notes throughout the work.”

Kim Jong Hoon has been a student of Korea National University of Arts since  Kim was eighteen in 2018. Kim has been picked as a student and composer and he has participated in the “Ojakgyo Project”, which the Seoul Chamber Orchestra  hosted last year. Within the project Kim attended a Masterclass related to his work for string orchestra from Prof. Dong Jin Bae and Hyun Ju Lee. This year, Kim has been picked for the “Choral Composer Forum at Lehigh Univ.” Due to COVID-19, however, the forum was postponed until next year.