Kinetic in Concert: ‘Musical Inspirations and Identity in France and Korea’

Houston-based ensemble Kinetic makes their Asia Society Texas debut with a thought-provoking chamber music concert exploring the intersection of Korean and French musical identities. The program opens with Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major (1903), a staple of string quartet literature that was written against a backdrop of an expanding Western Imperialist agenda in Asia and, consequently, a European public’s fascination and exoticization of the Far East. Over the course of the following century, Asian musicians have gained substantial representation and ownership in the classical music world. The remaining pieces in the program features three Korean American composers who have developed their own unique identities within this Western genre. Jungyoon Wie and Nicky Sohn draw from their Korean heritage, while Earl Kim finds fresh inspiration from the French symbolist poetic and musical language of Ravel’s time.

This concert is presented as part of Houston Symphony’s Songs of the Earth Festival, a two-week festival highlighting classical music’s most unforgettable and immersive experiences, including soul-stirring meditations on life and death and haunting concertos, and exploring conversations between composers in Europe and Asia in classical music during the 20th and 21st centuries.