Bora Ju

Bora Ju is a Visiting Artist in the Division of Ethnomusicology during Fall Quarter 2009. Her visit is sponsored by The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea (MCST) which has named her its 2009 Korean Traditional Artist-in-Residence.

An elegant artist of extraordinary musical talent, the gayageum player Bora Ju is renowned for her exquisite and sophisticated playing. She studied with some of the most celebrated Korean traditional musicians and masters of gayageum that include Hae Sook Kim, Ui Sik Min and Ji Young Lee. Ms. Ju is considered as one of the most quintessentially trained traditional gayageum performers specializing in the performance lineage of Master Sung Geum-Nyeon. She also actively promotes contemporary music with a specialization on the 25-string gayageum

As a soloist, Bora Ju has performed numerous solo recitals in Seoul, and has frequently appeared on international music and theater festival stages around the world that include the Sibiu International Theater Festival with the group, "Sinjuku Yangsan Bak-King Ebi," in Sibiu, Romania, the Sixth Annual Junior Leadership Festival in Brazil, the New York Korean Film Festival, the Fourth Annual Pansori Festival in Seoul, the Media Performance "Rhyme Modulation Nong," in Seoul and the New Year's Celebration Concert in Jacksonville, Oregon, among others.

Ms. Ju has appeared to critical acclaim as a soloist with many of Korea's prestigious orchestras including Seoul City Traditional Orchestra, Gyeonggi State Traditional Orchestra and the National Traditional Youth Orchestra. Audiences and critics alike have been enthusiastic in their praise of her playing. Ms. Ju has both her BA and MA degrees from the Korean National University of Arts.