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Composition Portfolio: JungAh Lee

Ant Stopped (2025)

Mini-opera; monodrama for soprano and ensemble

Composition and stage direction by JungAh Lee
Text by Yeonwoo Jung

Duration : c. 22′

Supported by Arts Council Korea
Premiered July 5, 2025, Dream Forest Arts Center

Full Score

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The mini-opera Ant Stopped is inspired by I-Chae, a character from Korean writer Yeonwoo Jung’s short story A Genealogy of a Certain Screen. I-Chae is sensitive and easily startled. After her death, she comes to watch the daily lives of others behind a screen, seeing everything with an omniscient viewpoint. She follows the lead of someone next to her who constantly laughs and mocks whatever appears on the screen. Her own way of looking gradually becomes tinged with similar mockery and cynicism. Still, unexpected moments stir up old emotions she hadn’t anticipated.

I-Chae slowly realizes that seeing isn’t just passive observation, but also can be a form of connection and engagement with the world.

In the original text, the “ant column story” appears as a childhood episode where I-Chae first becomes aware of how she looks at the world. I felt this short scene captured not only I-Chae’s inner world but also the key point of the entire story. Ant Stopped draws on this ant metaphor and carries the belief that attention and respect for individual existence, values we tend to overlook, can be the thread that helps us begin again.

We are all the ones who pick up ants, turn them around, drop them, or crush them. We are also the small ant that gets left behind, stopped in the middle of the column. This work suggests that our engagement with the world shouldn’t stop at observation and judgment, but should develop into a way of seeing others as whole beings. In a world full of anxiety, perhaps we can turn our attention to people who move through life like ants, and quietly focus on the one who has stopped.

Credit

Composer, Director, Lighting designer | JungAh Lee
Libretto | Yeonwoo Jung

Soprano | Suyeon Cho
Conductor | Andy Lee

Ensemble | Ellie Eunbi Baek (fl.) Jinsu Kim (cl.) Minseong Kim (sax.) Haeree Hwang (hn.) Yujin Son (perc.) Hyunwoo Jung (key.) Subin Hwang (vn.) Sieun Park (vc.) Rosa Eunseo Ryu (db.)

Videographer | Dongyong Lee
Lighting operator | Suna Hwang, Rokha Choi

Excerpt Video (6:48)

0:00 m.58-83 / 1:58 m.144-160 / 4:05 m.226-290 / 5:06 m.399-420

Full Video (21:44)

intatto (2024/2025)

flute and percussion

* List of Percussion: 5 temple blocks, 2 suspended cymbals (in different sizes), 1 large tam-tam, 1 set of bongos, crotales

2024 version
Premiered July 22, 2024, highSCORE Festival
Duration: c. 6’20”

2025 version
Premiered July 5, 2025, Dream Forest Arts Center
Duration: c. 7’30”

Full Score (2025 version)

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Composed for flutist Sonia Formenti and percussionist Matteo Savio of mdi ensemble, intatto takes its title from the Italian word meaning “intact.” The piece centers on the physical properties of the flute and percussion set. I sought to let each moment exist fully rather than anticipating the next. The 2025 revision concentrates on building a more compelling structure, particularly by creating more space in the latter part of the work for sounds to breathe and resonate.

Credit

Composer | JungAh Lee
Flute | Ellie Eunbi Baek
Percussion | Yujin Son

Videographer | Dongyong Lee

Excerpt Video (4:10)

0:00 m.17-43 / 1:03 m.70-112 / 2:12 m.122-151

Full Video (7:22)

awakening (2025)

violin and electroacoustic sound

Duration: c. 6′

Premiered June 15, 2025, New Music On the Point

Full Score

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awakening draws from the affinities between environmental sound and acoustic instruments. This idea is manifested through a subtle use of electronics, blurring the boundaries so that the distinction between violin and electroacoustic sound becomes ambiguous. The violin’s fragile harmonics remind me of the purity of birdsong. By overlapping the violin’s fourth octave and birdsong sharing frequencies in the 2,000-4,000Hz range, I found a subtle convergence of the natural and crafted, opening a liminal space where sound feels weightless and ethereal.

awakening is my recognition of, and tribute to, a quiet principle underlying creation. To be, to weather, and to awaken feels to me like a thread linking all that exists.

Credit

Composer | JungAh Lee
Violin | Chris Otto

Audio engineer | Brian Riordan
Videographer | Emmanuel Berrido

Excerpt Video (1:44)

0:00 m.62-79