IL HOON SON
Composer
Il Hoon Son has worked as a freelance composer since 2014, receiving commissions and performances from diverse ensembles, festivals, and individual musicians between South Korea and Europe.
"The musical game is truly a remarkable way to solve how to listen, make, and enjoy the music"
- Auditorium Magazine
Through his most characteristic composition ‘Musical Game Series’, Il Hoon attracts much attention from the audience by transforming the concert hall into a stadium which gives the performer maximum creativity to participate in. By doing so, the performer can assign their own taste to the work and produce different results for each performance. From <20 Questions>, the first game piece among the series premiered by Amsterdam Piano Quartet in the festival Dag in de Branding, and <Rhythm Bomb>, the hilarious game piece commissioned and premiered by Nieuw Ensemble, to <Game of Yut: Mo or do> the latest game piece for Korean traditional instruments orchestra, commissioned and premiered by National Orchestra of Korea on 2022, his works are performed and broadcast regularly worldwide and have featured on many stages such as the festival Music in Pyeongchang or Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Dr. Anton Philipszaal, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Lotte Concert Hall, Alpensia Concert Hall, and National Theater of Korea.
"Son actualized a witty pass-on game with
musical chairs effect by using only instruments"
- de Volkskrant
As a composer-in-residence, Il Hoon premieres a new composition for his ensemble ClubM annually and his works have been performed by the ensemble. The classical radio channel of the Korean Broadcasting System characterized one of his works for the ensemble <Meditation> series as “His sense of modernity is absolutely expressed in his music”. The album <Meditations> is released on music streaming services.
He works together with musicians such as Yeol Eum Son, Jong Hai Park, Yekwon Sunwoo, Ji Young Lim, Laurens de Man, Ivan Vukosavljević, Alex Kordzaia and ensembles such as Nieuw Ensemble, Neo-fanfare 9x13, Rotterdam Alexander Kamerkoor, Amsterdam Piano Quartet, Bachsolisten Seoul, SAC Chamber ensemble, Alte Musik Seoul, National Orchestra of Korea, Korean Arts Wind and conductors such as Ed Spanjaard, Leonard Kwon, Ryan Bancroft, Samuel Lee, and Park Cheun-Ji.
"He is a composer who revitalizes the stage and makes us rethink why we make music"
- NPO Radio 4
Il Hoon not only composes contemporary works but also, arranges/recomposes classical works for diverse instruments accordingly to the concept of the concert. He works as a music director to derive completion from the performance to the stage and is responsible for programming many concerts, especially with different genres of art such as ballet, modern dance, and the fine arts. From 2022 he works as an artistic advisor of Music in PyeongChang Festival. He regularly performs as an improvisation pianist on experimental stages such as Seoul Free-music Festival, Amsterdam Oorsprong Curator Series, Gaudeamus Sessie, Rewire Festival The Hague, Nova Festival, Music in PyeongChang Festival collaborates with many artists.
"He kept the audience on the edge of their seat with his ingenious musical game piece <Rhythm Bomb>"
- NRC Handelsblad
Il Hoon Son was born in Seoul, South Korea. After he studied composition at the Korea National University of Arts, he came to the Netherlands and received a master’s degree in music and an artist diploma with Cornelis de Bondt, Rozalie Hirs, Jan van de Putte, and Peter Adriaansz in The Royal Conservatory of The Hague.