Transfigurations

Artists pictured left to right: Lisa Sung, jazz pianist and composer; Ji Won Jeon, theatre director.

Inspired by The Vegetarian, the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Han Kang, Transfigurations is an interdisciplinary work performed by the Lisa Sung Ensemble and created, composed, and curated by Korean American jazz pianist and composer Lisa Sung. Centered on Sung’s original song cycle and contemporary improvisations, the performance brings selected passages from the novel into dialogue with music, voice, and movement.

For this presentation hosted by the MSU College of Music, Sung collaborates with theatre director Ji Won Jeon, whose staging integrates spoken text, expressive movement, and musical performance. Through passages drawn from the novel, actors and musicians explore the experiences of the novel’s main character, tracing her resistance to the expectations imposed on her body, family, and identity.

Presented with support from the Asian Studies Center and Council on Korean Studies at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan’s Nam Center for Korean Studies, the Lisa Sung Ensemble brings Transfigurations to life through sound, language, and movement, exploring themes of silence, violence, resistance, and transformation.