Sanjo Barocco

Sanjo Barocco suggests a cross-cultural analogy between Western period instruments and East Asian traditional instruments. Sanjo (산조) is a highly virtuosic solo genre of classical Korean music with a fixed repertoire. Like much solo music of the Baroque, sanjo is a suite of movements differentiated by tempo and meter. 

Sanjo Barocco simultaneously evokes daegeum (flute) sanjo and gayageum (zither) sanjo. Elements of common to sanjo and baroque movements (triple meters, nongeum “shake” and traverso flattement) are incorporated alongside contemporary techniques (flute multiphonics, playing “inside” harpsichord) that bridge historical and cultural lines between musical influences by anchoring them in the global present.