Founded in August 1996, Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra (formerly Gyeonggi Provincial Orchestra) is an artistic group representing Gyeonggi-do and Korea. It has consistently presented high-quality stages that creatively inherited and developed Korean traditional music. The Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra has a Korean traditional orchestra, a vocal ensemble representing Gyeonggi folk songs, and a performance troupe that evokes the spirit of God. The orchestra produces a variety of contemporary creative music, traditional music, and popular music, as well as various planned performances such as Korean traditional music, dance music, and meditation concerts. In the 21st century, the orchestra devoted themselves to the goal of leaping beyond Gyeonggi-do and Korea to the rest of the world. The name “Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra” reflects a mission to create a new kind of Korean orchestra in the spirit of “sinawi,” a style of improvisation that has its roots in traditional Korean music. Sinawi, sometimes spelled shinawi, is a traditional Korean music. It is performed improvisationally by a musical ensemble, and traditionally accompanies the rites of Korean shamanism. The style first emerged in the Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces, but is now widespread. The traditional sinawi ensemble followed the principle of sam-hyeon-yuk-gak (三絃六角), with two flutes, a haegeum, a daegeum, a janggu hourglass-drum, and a large buk drum. However, today other traditional Korean instruments such as the gayageum and geomungo are also often included.

Artistic Director, Won Il

“Leading trends and daring to realize artistic imagination.”

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..