San Diego Reader

Chinary Ung: Composer

Genre: Classical

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Synoposis

Background:

Cambodian composer Chinary Ung was a member of first graduating class of Cambodia’s National Music Conservatory. After moving to the U.S. in 1964, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the Manhattan School of Music, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University. He has been a professor of composition at UCSD since 1995.

In 2008, he debuted “Spiral XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth,” an extended musical composition concerning Kristallnacht, the anniversary of a night in Germany when nearly 100 Jews were killed and thousands more were sent off to concentration camps, and the Cambodian holocaust, during which the Khmer Rouge killed over a million people.

As of 2011, the 68 year-old composer lives near UTC with his wife, violist Susan Ung, and their two children. The U.S. premiere of his work “After Rising Light” happened June 3 at California State University Santa Barbara.