Gamin Kang, simply known as “gamin,” a distinguished soloist, tours the world performing both traditional Korean music and cross-disciplinary collaborations. gamin plays piri (double-reed Korean oboe), taepyeonso (double-reed horn), and saenghwang (mouth organ). gamin is a designated Yisuja (Senior Diplomate), an official holder of Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46 for Court and Royal Military music. In addition to her artistic endeavors, she dedicates herself to academic research activities. gamin earned her Doctorate in Musical Arts at Seoul National University, where her thesis, “Advanced Techniques of Piri.” Published by Minsokwon in Korean and English, this monograph received the Art Research Award from the Seoul Arts Council. gamin was the principal piri player at the National Gugak Orchestra, from 2004-2010.
Re-inventing new sonorities from ancient, somewhat restrictive, musical systems, gamin has received several cultural exchange program grants, including Artist-in-Residence (2014) at the Asian Cultural Council, and Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism of the Republic of Korea (2012). She has presented lectures/concerts at Harvard and Dartmouth, and in Paris, Strasbourg, and Freiburg. gamin has collaborated in cross-cultural improvisation in NYC with world-acclaimed musician Jane Ira Bloom, presenting premieres at Roulette Theater, New School, and Metropolitan Museum, NYC. gamin was a featured artist at the Silkroad concert, in Seoul, in 2018, performing on-stage with Yo-Yo Ma. gamin premiered her newest solos, performed by Korea Symphony (2016), Seoul Philharmonic (2015), and National Gugak Orchestra (2019).
In addition to 5 CDs, gamin digitally released “Attraction,” traditional solo music for piri. All About Jazz (2014) praised “…the most haunting track, the elegiac Jeongseon Arirang, played by gamin on piri…”. gamin’s latest recording comprises improv with today’s most innovative musicians, including Ned Rothenberg, and her new album, “Nong,” was released by Innova Records in September 2020.
Since 2018, gamin has curated several performances at the Center for Remembering and Sharing, NYC, as part of the CROSSING BOUNDARIES series. gamin is an ongoing Collaborative Artist with the Silkroad Project, founded and directed by Yo-Yo Ma. gamin was a Visiting Scholar at the James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, and a residency artist at Brandeis University in 2019.
In 2020, she was selected as artist-in-residence at the HERE Arts Center. gamin’s Carnegie Hall début as a featured soloist with the Nangye Gugak Orchestra of Korea, scheduled for March 27, 2020, was postponed by the COVID pandemic. gamin was awarded the prestigious fellowship from Jerome Hill Foundation(2021-2022) and Howard Fellowship(2023). Since 2022, gamin has taught graduate and undergraduate ethnomusicology as Adjunct Faculty at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA.
