SOOJI SEOL
Opus 1 composer
Sooji Seol is one of six Opus 1 composers selected for 2025
Sooji Seol is a London-based South Korean composer and pianist, currently pursuing a Master of Composition at the Royal College of Music. Her music explores a distinctive contemporary language that transcends boundaries between East and West.
Her orchestral work The Storm (2020) was performed by the Millennium Symphony Orchestra, which also commissioned and premiered Song of Songs (2021). Her chamber works, including Beloved (2021) and Porpoise (2023), have been performed by the Sejong Soloists and various ensembles.
She was selected as a Rising Artist by Korea’s Stomp Music, through which she gave a solo recital, and has performed at Carnegie Hall following international piano competition successes. Her work has also been featured on Korea’s TomatoTV.
She completed Master’s coursework at Seoul National University and holds a summa cum laude BMus in composition from Hanyang University. She has taken part in masterclasses with Unsuk Chin, José María Sánchez-Verdú, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Michael Finnissy.
See more on her website.
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Getting to know Sooji
What’s the first thing you do when starting a new piece?
I read literature first. This allows me to focus on what I want to express before I begin writing a piece. It is usually an emotional sensibility, and I quickly sketch how it might be conveyed and form its outline.
I begin by looking at the music from a distance, building a sensory and visual image in order to later shape it into sound.
Throughout the writing process, I repeatedly read or reflect on the poem to hold on to the sound-image I aim for. That is why I read literature.
Where do you find inspiration for your music?
My compositional practice is informed by a wide range of interdisciplinary sources.
Beloved, for violin and piano, is a wordless meditation inspired by the poetry of the Song of Songs. The work may be understood as a musical mise-en-scène that seeks to translate poetic sensibility into sound.
Storm, for orchestra, is a sonic interpretation of Lee Ufan’s abstract painting From Line, aiming to render the visual impression into musical form.
The piano quintet Fractal is conceived around the concept of self-similarity, drawing upon fractal theory to generate recurring and evolving motivic structures.
Such instances demonstrate how literature, visual art, and scientific thought each serve as fertile ground for musical exploration, and continue to play a vital role in shaping my creative process.
Was there a particular moment when you knew you wanted to be a composer?
I was sixteen and a secondary school student in Seoul when I first encountered contemporary music in a meaningful way. Composer Unsuk Chin was curating Ars Nova with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra—a series dedicated to contemporary works.
Hearing her Violin Concerto for the first time was a turning point. I was deeply moved by its sound world and decided then that I wanted to become a composer.
Ars Nova continued for a decade, introducing composers such as Jukka Tiensuu, Christophe Bertrand, and Georg Friedrich Haas. It was a rare and influential series that shaped my path as a young musician.
What are you hoping to explore or challenge in your work during Opus 1?
In Opus 1, I hope to create music that speaks in a contemporary language not attempted in past eras—music that resonates meaningfully with listeners today, and that, in time, may endure beyond the present.
What 3 pieces of music would be on your desert island disc?
Johann Sebastian Bach – Complete Motets
Frédéric Chopin – Nocturnes (performed by Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini)
Unsuk Chin – Alice in Wonderland (Opera)
Tea or Coffee?
I usually drink iced Americano, but since moving to the UK, I’ve come to enjoy tea with scones.
Early bird or night owl?
I tend to compose during the day, so I’m more of an early bird.
Pencil or software?
I sketch by hand first, then move to notation software.