Serra Miyeun Hwang

Serra Miyeun Hwang (born 1962) is an American composer. Her work uses elements of Korean folk music.^[2] She is also a percussionist, playing Korean drums.^[3]

Serra Miyeun Hwang
Born	1962 (age 62–63) Seoul, South Korea
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Era	Contemporary
Korean name
Hangul	황미연
Hanja	黃美衍[1]
Revised Romanization	Hwang Miyeon
McCune–Reischauer	Hwang Miyŏn

Biography

Hwang was born in Seoul, South Korea and emigrated to the United States as a teen.^[4] In 1988, she was the composer who won the University of Michigan's Concerto Competition.^[5] Hwang was also the winner of the 1992 Search for New Music Competition sponsored by the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM).^[6] Hwang did her undergraduate work at the University of California, Santa Barbara.^[7] In 1993, she earned her PhD in Musical Arts in Musical Composition, along with a minor in ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan.^[8] After finishing her degrees, she spent time in London and in Jeonju as an adjunct professor at Jeonju University.^[1][9]

Work

Hwang's work incorporates both drums and folk music from Korea in her compositions.^[10] Her work on Beckoning (2012) "augments solo cello with Korean drums to evoke memories of her childhood in Seoul, Korea."^[11] Her piece, Sojourn (2004), uses traditional Korean drum rhythms and the piano.^[12] Chan E. Park in The World of Music, describes Hwang's compositions as "liberating" both Western-style music and the folk sounds of Korean kugak into something that becomes "'fresh music for foreigners' while 'returning to roots' by honoring past traditions."^[13]