ARTIST STATEMENT:
My art serves as an ode to both the familiar and the unfamiliar. While my deep-seated love for the classical canon is boundless — whether it's Beethoven’s yearning for the transcendent, Mozart’s mastery of dramaturgy, or Ligeti’s adventurous sonic landscapes — I am equally captivated by the unexplored.
Traditional Korean folk music, with its rich tapestry of expression, or abstract concepts like formal and motivic symmetries — both often unfamiliar to the terrains of composition — ignite my imagination and challenge my creative process, just as much as the works of Beethoven or Schubert.
And though I dedicate a majority of my thoughts to music, my passions extend far beyond. As a student of mathematics, an avid weight-lifter, an architecture enthusiast, and a devoted foodie, I draw inspiration from diverse sources.
Through my compositions, I strive to meld the familiar classical lens with these varied influences, inviting listeners to experience the dynamic interplay of these contrasting ideologies. I hope to evoke inspiration, challenge perceptions, and cultivate a deeper appreciation for art — perhaps even introducing some to its wonders for the first time.
And as for the familiar, I find emotional immediacy and architectural clarity essential to my work, two elements I feel govern the art form. It is in this rich, complicated, and unexpected intersection of the familiar and the unfamiliar that I find true beauty. My artistic journey is no start nor an end, but rather an ongoing search for authenticity and humanity; after all, what is art if not a reflection of what is most true to us?
BIOGRAPHY:
Christian Yom (b. 2005) is a Korean American composer, pianist, and improviser from NY, and will be based in Cambridge, MA this fall. Starting composition in 2022, Christian’s music draws from an ever-increasing musical and extra-musical palette, among them the synthesis of traditional Korean folk and Western music idioms, the drawing of expression from unique timbrel and color combination, the vast constructions of Beethoven, the note-by-note intention of Takemitsu and Ravel, the harmony and drive of jazz, and even the delight of Korean food. All of which are laced into his tightly knit and ever-expanding body of work.
Praised for imaginative orchestration, poeticism, and emotional resonance, during his first year of composing under Dr. Paul Frucht, Christian has received a 2023 Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a 2023 YoungArts Finalist in Classical Music, the 2023 Flute New Music Consortium Call for Score Winner, a 2022 National Young Composers Challenge Ensemble winner, the 2022 National 1st place winner in MTNA’s Senior Composition Competition, and has worked with renowned artists Emily Levin, principal harpist of Dallas Symphony, flutist and influencer Katie Althen, Jeremias Sergiana Velasquez, and more. His works have been performed at Steinmetz Hall by the Orlando Philharmonic, the New World Center in Miami by the NuDeco Ensemble, at the National Arts Club, the Ridgefield Playhouse. Recent projects includes a commission to orchestrate “A Concerto for My Family” by 2023 bassist Ranaan Meyer for chamber orchestra. His primary mentors have been Paul Frucht, John Corigliano, and he is now studying with Efstratios Minakakis.
Christian is also a pianist, championing new music in classical concerts, programming improvisations, and also receiving awards and recognitions regionally, nationally, and internationally, among them awarded by Enkor, Musicale, and the American Concerto Competition. A firm believer of music resource equity, he is the founder and CEO of the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Instruments Inspire, striving to provide musical opportunities for all children through instrument donations and/or covering funding for instruments.
When not composing, Christian studies mathematics, and enjoys drawing on the parallels of composing and writing literature, trying foods, making coffee (a lot), and singing, or at least trying to.
He is continuing musical and academic pursuits at the Harvard University and New England Conservatory through the B.A./M.M program.