A new recording of Korean art songs by Korean Canadian bass Won Cho, DMA, has won a Global Music Award Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement.
“Korean Tapestry: Korean Art Songs by Leading Korean Women Composers” features Cho, his wife, internationally acclaimed Korean soprano Kyoung Cho, DMA, and Korean pianist Eun-Hee Park, DMA. The album was released in May under Naxos Records and spotlights 17 works by eight living composers written between 2004 and 2022. The 68-minute album is available in digital format and CD and contains a bilingual booklet in English and Korean written by the singers. It is available to purchase or stream online.
Cho is an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, teaching voice in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music. He and his collaborators presented two lecture-recitals on the recording in Korea earlier this summer.
“Korean Tapestry” was recorded, mixed and produced by UAB Assistant Professor of Music Technology Craig Brandwein.
As an added honor, this is the first Korean art song/folk song CD Naxos has ever released, since its founding in 1987 with over 12,000 recordings released, Cho says. Naxos Records is the world’s leading classical music label as measured by the number of new recordings it releases and the depth and breadth of its catalog.
John Dante Prevedini of Classical Music Daily called the recording “extraordinary” and “a noteworthy example for the global cause of repertoire inclusivity in classical music.”
The album is also being entered into the 66th Grammy Awards for consideration in the categories Classical Vocal Solo Album and Producer of The Year – Classical, Brandwein says.
Established in 2011, the Global Music Awards is an international music competition that celebrates independent musicians. Each year, the Global Music Awards receives hundreds of entries from around the world, and those chosen to receive the awards will know their music stands out internationally and across cultures. The Global Music Awards recognizes talented artists based on the merits of their music, not record sales or size of fan base, and is recognized as music’s golden seal of approval.
Kyoung Cho is a professor of voice and coordinator of the Voice Area in the University of South Florida’s School of Music, where she has taught since 2007. Park is assistant professor of music and head of the Keyboard Area at the University of Montevallo.