A Celebration of the Lunar New Year

Rutgers music professor Min-Kyung Kwon will be performing the world premiere of James Ra’s "Fantasia on Sae Taryeong" on piano Saturday as part of the New Jersey Symphony’s Lunar New Year celebration.

Ra composed the piece specifically for Kwon to play and based it on a traditional Korean folk song which translates to “Bird Song.”

The Mason Gross School of the Arts faculty member explains how the message of the song has been told through the lyrics over generations. “As a pianist, we don’t have the words to literally translate,” Kwon said, “but there is a lot of emotion behind it and a lot of soul. And that is so beautiful.”