When I was at the 2026 North American Saxophone Alliance conference, I was blown away by the level of musicmaking. One of the most inspiring things was taking my students to experience their first NASA biennial conference. They marveled as they absorbed lectures, took in brilliant performances, and tried all the fancy gear in the exhibit hall. 

One thing that struck me was taking them out to a Korean restaurant for the first time. As they ordered dishes that they had never tried before, they jumped right in to try them. It was whimsical and light, and I want to dedicate this piece to exploring this experience. 

Like the book Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, I feel that food is one way to intimately know a culture. It is also delicious.
Korean food is delicious. It’s savory, spicy, it wakes up the senses. My last piece explored the Korean traditional value of 한 (han)...expressing deep sorrow, even resentment. This piece will showcase another value– 흥 (heung). Heung symbolizes our Korean spirit of resilience. These expressive qualities are very similar to those found in jazz, so while I haven’t written anything yet, I can imagine those colors and linguistic elements of the music will play a role–and of course, delicious, traditional Korean cuisine! Overall, I want this piece to capture the spirit of resilience. I hope you’ll join me for this journey into saxophone quartet.

Deadline to Join - May 31, 2026

Anticipated Delivery of the Score to Tier 1 Consortium Members - September 15, 2026
Approximate Difficulty: Collegiate quartets and professional quartets.

Length — 9-12 minutes split into movements.