SDF

Won Il, who has been called an icon of innovation in Korean music, is an artistic director, composer, conductor, piri (Korean reed flute) player and percussionist. He is a holder of Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 46 (Piri Jeongak and Daechwita - Classical Piri Solo and Military Band Music) and was music director for the National Dance Company of Korea from 2000 to 2002. As founder of the world music group PURI (founded in 1993), which caused a sensation in the Korean music world, and Korean music ensemble Baramgot (founded in 2007), he has introduced audiences at home and abroad to new kinds of Korean music. He is a four-time winner of the Best Music Award at the Daejong Film Awards for Petals (1996), Spring in My Hometown (1999), The Uprising (2000), and Hwang Jin Yi (2006). He taught as a professor of Korean Traditional Music Composition in the School of Korean Traditional Arts at Korea National University of Arts from 2002 to 2012. He was artistic director for the National Orchestra of Korea from 2012 to 2015 and served as music director for the closing and opening ceremonies of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, as well as director for the Seoul closing and opening ceremonies of the 2019 Korean National Sports Festival. He is considered an important cultural leader in Korean music, spearheading trends and creating a wide variety of performances and artistic works that give expression to the endless imagination that music inspires. He is currently artistic director of the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra.