Hi Kyung Kim, Professor of Music and composer was the Artistic Director of the 2017 Pacific Rim Festival -- a dazzling array of traditional and contemporary Korean music which was performed at the October 25-29, 2017 at the Music Center Recital Hall on the UC Santa Cruz campus. The Pacific Rim Music Festival represented a historically unprecedented collaboration between Korean and Western large-scale orchestras and ensembles and Western and international composers, with compositions performed using traditional Korean and Western instruments.
Forty world premieres were offered, featuring the 55-member Creative Traditional Orchestra of the Korean National Gugak Center, the Center's Chamber Ensemble, the Borromeo String Quartet, the New York New Music Ensemble, and Festival Ensemble Korea. “This historical presentation at the Pacific Rim Music Festival was the first time the National Gugak Center presented such a premiere program outside of Korea,” Professor Kim noted.
UC Berkeley’s prestigious Cal Performances also hosted two concerts from the Pacific Rim Festival on Oct. 28, 2017 at Zellerbach Hall.