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[ n o i s ; o u n d ] - Installation at the Villa 102

In cooperation with the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) as part of the programme "Frankfurt Moves!", KfW Stiftung is hosting an installation by scholarship holder Jiyoon Hyun at Villa 102 from 16 to 20 July 2025.

About the installation

Basically, noise is an unpleasant or unwanted sound (according to Collins Dictionary) and music is the art of arranging and combining sounds (according to Cambridge Dictionary). Noise and music seem to be opposites, but they both fall under the category of sound, and noise can be music depending on how we treat it. The fact that what we call noise has become an important part of modern music shows that the boundaries between noise and music can be blurred at any time. The same applies to our lives. There are good moments in life, but there are also always unexpected situations where difficulties arise, but we can accept them as part of life and respond to them dynamically. In this way, our lives become richer and more colourful, and we can create our own unique music. In her exhibition, Jiyoon Hyun explores these moments of life and presents them to us in five rooms: Death, Fear, Language, Identity and Social Responsibility. She works with four composers, including fellow "Frankfurt Moves!"-scholarship holder Yuheng Chen, to collect sound fragments and transform them from noises into musical sounds.

Jiyoon Hyun 

The South Korean pianist Jiyoon Hyun, born in Seoul in 1990, began her musical journey at the age of five with a toy piano gifted by her grandfather. Her passion for the piano has remained a central part of her life ever since. She graduated from the Seoul Arts High School and went on to earn her bachelor's degree from Seoul National University. In 2019, she began studying for her Master’s degree at the University of the Arts in Bremen with Martin von der Heydt. During this period, she was awarded two scholarships: one from the German Orchestra Foundation and another from the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat), involving a concert at the Clavier-Salon in Göttingen. Additionally, she received positive feedback in the master class of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, a jury member for the International Chopin Piano Competition. Thanks to her fellow composer Kyungjin Lim, she discovered the joy of contemporary music and is still fascinated by it today, which has led to various collaborations with contemporary composers. She joined the contemporary music organization, the ensemble SONOR XXI, in 2018, and is currently its artistic director. In 2023, she was equally active in South Korea as a pianist and initiator of numerous performances. Highlights include "Voice of Women", a project to publicise works by uncelebrated female composers, as well as the reading-cum-concert "Between Book and Music", a project that connects music and books.

Yuheng Chen 

Yuheng Chen began piano lessons at the age of five in China and, starting in 2017, studied composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). Chen's teachers included Clara Iannotta and Michael Jarrell (composition) as well as Karlheinz Essl (electroacoustic composition). Chen also attended seminars and private classes with Mochizuki Misato, Olga Neuwirth, Ying Wang, Chaya Czernowin, Francesco Filidei and Franck Bedrossian, among others. Yuheng Chen's work explores the possibilities of instrumental sound material and the fragile balance between noise and pitch. As a composer and performer, Chen focuses on investigating and pushing the boundaries of instrumental sound modulation. The fractured, broken, fleeting and intense emotions that arise from the complexity of contemporary life are transformed into powerful and unique sonic landscapes. In 2022, Chen was a finalist in the Ö1 Talentebörse competition in Austria. In 2023, Chen was a laureate of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award and received first prizes at the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione, the Frank Robert Abell Young Composers Competition in the USA and the Irino Composition Prize in Japan. Chen's compositions have been presented at festivals and international concert venues, including the Witten Days of New Chamber Music, Tokyo Operacity Composium 2023, Impuls Festival Graz, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, Klangspuren Schwaz, Festival Mixtur Barcelona and Wien Modern. Chen's works have been performed by various orchestras and ensembles, such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Names, Ensemble Phace, Ensemble Platypus and many others.

Jiyoon Hyun and Yuheng Chen are both recipients of the Frankfurt Moves! scholarship in 2025.

Programme "Frankfurt Moves!"

KfW Stiftung initiated the programme "Frankfurt Moves!" in cooperation with its partners in order to contribute to the diversity of the regional cultural landscape in Frankfurt am Main. Through multidisciplinary residency programmes in cooperation with regional and international partners, the programme aims to strengthen multidisciplinary contemporary art production, promote young creative talents and stimulate intercultural exchange across national borders. The international programme Frankfurt Moves! is aimed at cultural professionals in the fields of performing and visual arts and music.

In cooperation with IEMA, promising young artists are given the opportunity to further develop their skills, professionalise themselves and perform on international stages. For one year, they work as part of the IEMA ensemble, which develops numerous projects and programmes under the guidance of Ensemble Modern members and performs them in up to 25 concerts. The one-year master's programme "International Ensemble Modern Academy - Contemporary Music Performance" is aimed at already trained instrumentalists, conductors, composers and sound directors. KfW Stiftung finances two scholarship places in the programme each year.

For more information, please click here.

Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie (IEMA)

The International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) is the Ensemble Modern's training center and was founded in 2003 with the aim of conveying the diverse contemporary currents and an open, creative approach to artistic processes. It offers training programmes for various target groups, from education projects and international master classes for instrumentalists to formats for young artists at the beginning of their careers. The focus is on the Master's program, which has been run in cooperation with the Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (HfMDK) since 2006.

For more information, please click here.

IMAGE:  Jiyoon Hyun