 Fusing
cultures has been a central theme for classical composer Chinary
Ung, who joined UCSD’s music faculty in 1995. Born in Cambodia,
Ung has explored ways of expressing his eastern roots within the
context of Western classical music. His latest piece titled “Aura”,
premiered by Pasadena’s Southwest Chamber Ensemble in February,
reflects the evolution of his thinking. “Aura” was
written for two sopranos and a 10-member ensemble of woodwinds,
strings and percussion and illustrates the Western and Eastern
influences on his music. “At first, I was concerned with
blending East and West,” says Ung. “After a decade
or two, I’ve shifted my position. I believe in the concept
of co-existence. Each community should follow its own identity.” That
co-existence obviously worked well in this new work. The LA Times
reviewer wrote, “‘Aura’ lasted 36 riveting minutes
. . . Why not make it
50 or 60 minutes? With music this enthralling, there is no need to
hold back.”
Born in Cambodia in 1942, Ung was
raised by grandparents of modest means,
and music was not a part of th household. In his teens, though,
he went to live with
his parents in Phnom Penh, the capital city, where his father
was a high-ranking official at the palace of King Sihanouk. It
was
there that he was exposed to the beauties of Cambodian music.
Ung came to the U.S. in 1964 to study clarinet at the Manhattan
School of Music and Columbia University. In Cambodia, his family
experienced
the violent takeover by the Communist Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979,
in which as many as 1.5 million Cambodians lost their lives. Ung
refused to go back to Cambodia and taught at various universities
including Arizona State, the University of Pennsylvania, and Northern
Illinois University while, at the same time, helping to preserve
Cambodian culture by performing and annotating the music. In 1989,
he won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for his orchestral composition “Inner
Voices,” giving Cambodian music its first international exposure.
In 2004, he received the Joyce Foundation Prize, which funded Ung’s
composition for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Ung’s recent CD “Seven Mirrors” is another example
of the artistic ground he has staked. The piece “Spiral VI”,
for instance, utilizes classical instruments (violin, cello, clarinet,
piano) to explore musical themes
with a distinctly Asian aura. And it is this ability to build on
his cultural heritage that prompted composer George Crumb to describe
him as “the Cambodian Bartok,” in the sense that both
modern composers have drawn inspiration from simple folk music.
Ung
is currently at work on two projects. One is a string quartet jointly
commissioned by the Serge
Koussevitzky Music Foundation
in the Library of Congress and also by the Del Sol String
Quartet. The
other, under consideration by the San Diego Symphony, is a percussion
concerto with video and orchestra featuring UCSD percussionist
Steven Schick.  — Dirk
Sutro
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