Joohyun Parc is a composer based in Chicago whose work invites audience to question their surroundings. Her compositions aim to disrupt ingrained musical expectations by navigating and confronting the listener’s cognitive dissonance. Her artistic practice is devoted to creating an acoustic space and situation that cultivate the audience’s critical thinking. The communication between the audience and her composition rejects any imposed ideas other than sonic information.

Her compositions have been featured internationally at events such as Ostrava Days (PLATO Ostrava 2023), Yarn/Wire Institute Festival (The DiMenna Center for Classical Music 2022), sound:moves:us (The Clark Art Institute 2022), and the International Young Composers and Conductors Academy (Ticino, Switzerland 2024) along with the collaborations with renowned ensembles and performers like Will Lang, JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, and Unheard-of//Ensemble.

Parc will begin her PhD in composition and music technology at Northwestern University this coming fall. She previously earned her Master’s degree at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University under Michael Hersch and Eric Wubbels, and Bachelor’s in composition from Manhattan School of Music, under the guidance of Reiko Füting and Lewis Nielson.