Chung Park
From Sequenza21/NetNewMusic Wiki
Chung Park is quickly establishing himself as being among the finest of the next generation of American conductors. He serves as Co-Artistic Director and Conductor of the Miami based chamber orchestra Project Copernicus, Acting Director of the University of Miami Frost Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theater, and Music Director of the Young Musician’s Orchestra. Park holds degrees from the University of Illinois, Western Michigan University, the Peabody Conservatory, and is currently completing his doctoral studies at the University of Miami. Further studies include the Pierre Monteux School, the South Carolina Conductor's Institute, Tafelmusik Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Aspen Music Festival, and the International Festival-Institute at Roundtop, Texas, where two groups he led were chosen to perform on the "Best of the Summer" concerts during consecutive summers. He has performed in masterclasses for Marin Alsop, Andrey Boreyko, Per Brevig, Raymond Harvey, Catherine Comet and Pascal Verrot. Following his master's work at the University of Illinois, Park studied viola in Hannover, Germany with Hatto Beyerle of the Alban Berg Quartet.
Prior faculty positions include Indiana University - South Bend, where he led the orchestra program and taught strings and chamber music, and the University of Chicago, where he led the chamber orchestra and the annual Gilbert and Sullivan performances. Park served as conductor of opera and the WMU Chamber Orchestra while completing an MM in viola performance at Western Michigan University, leading productions of "Le Nozze di Figaro" and Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah". He was also Music Director of the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Mr. Park conducted the Filharmonia Bourgas (Bulgaria) in a concert of works by Alan Hovhaness in May 2006 and repeated it this past November with the Frost Symphony Orchestra at the University of Miami. A CD for release on Centaur of these previously unrecorded works of Alan Hovhaness was recorded with the Frost Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2006 and will be released in spring, 2007. The Bourgas concert and production costs for the recording were underwritten by a generous grant from the Theodore Presser Foundation and the University of Miami.
Mr. Park is active as a clinician, educator and in community outreach. He regularly works with special needs children through the music program at Creative Children’s Therapy in Miami. In addition, he has served as a guest conductor and clinician in January 2006 for the Hillsborough County All County Festival in Tampa, Florida, and conducts the annual "University of Miami Symphony Orchestra Kiddie Concert" with Martin Bookspan, host of "Live at Lincoln Center", as narrator. He has also appeared as guest speaker for community organizations such as the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs.
Mr. Park is an accomplished violist and violinist and remains active as a freelance musician in the Miami area, performing with organizations such as the Florida Grand Opera and the Miami Bach Society. As an instrumentalist he has attended the Aspen Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the International Konzertarbeitswochen in Goslar, Germany. Mr. Park has performed in masterclasses for Hatto Beyerle, Jeanne Lamon, Yitzhak Schotten, Jay Bernfeld, William Preucil Sr., Zoltan Toth, Jesse Levine and Cyrus Forough. He specializes in baroque performance practice and plays on a viola by Vanna So of Chicago that was given a baroque conversion by the renowned Toronto luthier Quentin Playfair. His bow is an ebony and ivory Locatelli model with a clip-in frog made by eminent bow maker Stephen Marvin of Toronto.
Mr. Park is a strong proponent of new music, having premiered works by Paul A. Oehlers, Ryojiro Sato, and 2006 BMI award winner Stephen Danyew. He has also led performances of works by Anthony Brandt and Dennis Kam. Conducting reading and recording sessions of new works from both the studio music and composition departments is an integral part of his duties at the University of Miami. Mr. Park draws inspiration for his work from a wide variety of sources, including conductors such as Thomas Sleeper, Charles Dutoit, John Eliot Gardiner and Simon Rattle. Other influences include the art of Johannes Vermeer and Andy Goldsworthy, the writings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and the artistic endeavors of the Kronos Quartet. Mr. Park is an avid runner, cyclist, amateur chef, mushroomer, wild food enthusiast and organic gardener with a special interest in heritage or heirloom vegetables. He is currently training for the 2007 Tropical Marathon in Miami, FL.
