Virtual Reclamation
for solo violin and chamber orchestra (2023; revised 2024)
Old Dominion University Symphony Orchestra, Norfolk, Virginia, 2024. Paul Sanho Kim, solo violin. William McClain, conductor.
Duration: 10′
Instrumentation: 2.1.1.1[opt] – 1.1.0.0 – 3perc – solo violin – str
perc: sus cym, china cym, splash cym, large gong, tuned gong (A) or medium gong, tamb, tri, glock, vib
Premiere: Orchestra of the Eastern Shore, Onley, Virginia, 2023. Amanda Gates, solo violin. Paul Sanho Kim, conductor.
Virtual Reclamation is a reflection of the challenges that many of us face in an increasingly digital and virtual world. Technology and artificial intelligence are advancing at such a rapid pace. With social media, targeted advertising, and pressure to build an impossibly idealized identity online, society is getting drawn into a virtual reality that can unhealthily become disconnected from our actual selves; some even measure their self-worth based on this artificial facade. This piece represents the difficulty and potential loss of identity from living in a virtual world, but it ends with a yearning to reclaim our human identity and navigate our new world with an independent sense of self-worth.
Paul Sanho Kim 