Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

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Work Overview

Mulgoa Mahks and Spaciousness, is inspired by the 'alive' presence in Mulgoa Nature Reserve and rough creative intensity of the process of making in Korean creative arts practices, referencing Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho's Mahk principle, where sonic marks in the music happen intuitively to reveal individuality and reach out to a sense of spiritual force. In the moment, the rough-hewn Moist Shale Woodland with its Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) created monolithic spaces in the bush where the lush burnt-red and green life sat with living presence, crackled by birdsong virtuosity into silence. This same Mahk presence I see in the organic spacing of Cho's inner courtyards architecture, vibrant bursts of energy in Eileen Chong's poetic weight of words, Cheolyu Kim's spiralling red energy of another world, and sober delicate presence in the complexity of Richard Wu's Song dynasty ink marks. The music is simple in its structure with three ideas: extreme slow still presences where subtle colour changes live, fast frenetic swirling spontaneous quasi-improvisational virtuosic energies, and 'in-between transition spaces' of rough and delicate gestures. The colour vibrancy of haegeum-nonghyeon and colouristic percussion shimmering Jīngjù sliding gongs, Samul Nori Kkwaenggwari and skin drums create musical momentary presences.

Work Details

Year: 2026

Instrumentation: Haegeum (tuning: Yuhyeon C4; Junghyeon F3), percussion (1 performer: Peking Opera gongs (high, medium [suspended]), hi-hat cymbals, Kkwaenggwari (suspended & handheld), Tibetan tingsha hand cymbals (high), 2 bongos (high, medium), 2 floor tom-toms (medium, low), medium mallets, percussion bow & wire brushes).

Duration: 14 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — Advanced — Complex rhythmic detail and changing colour nuances

Commission note: Mulgoa Mahks and Spaciousness was written for Choi Eunji (haegeum) and Joshua Hill (percussion) with Eileen Chong (poetry)

First performance: 27 Sep 26. Mahk Making Spaces, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc in relation to this work:
Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho’s Mahk principle, Cheolyu Kim and Richard Wu’s oppositional artistic energies, and Eileen Chong’s poetic vibrancy out of stillness, spontaneousness virtuosity of Noh Eunah and Choi Eunji’s haegeum performances, controlled sensitivity of Joshua Hill’s traditional percussion sounds, and the complex colouristic and rhythmic energies of the Tyshawn Sorey Trio.

This work was funded by the School of Arts, Research Node Funding Scheme and Research RIF Funding 2026 at Western Sydney University.

Mulgoa Mahks and Spaciousness was composed as part of a film collaboration between with Vincent Tay (director/cinematographer), Eileen Chong (poet), Cheolyu Kim and Richard Wu (visual artists), Choi Eunji (haegeum) and Joshua Hill (percussion)