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Woody Pak

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


Woody Pak
Woody Pak.jpg Woody Pak.jpg
BornOakland, California
🎓 Alma materMIT (B.S.)
Juilliard School of Music (M.A.)
💼 Occupation
Composer
Known forPlanet B-Boy, Making Tracks, Found a Cure (Ultra Naté song)
🏅 AwardsBest Original Score (2002)[1]
Best Composition & Lyrics (2015)[2]
🌐 Websitewoodypak.com

Woody Pak (born July 8, 1970) is an American composer,[3] producer, and musician.[4] He creates music for films,[5] documentaries,[6] commercials and musicals[7] as well as pop music[8] and concert performances. He draws from an array of influences and tells musical stories while seamlessly combining different genres and sounds from around the world. He is also referred to as Woodrow Pak, Won-tak Pak, Woodrow Won Tak Pak, and 우디박 in Korean.

Early life[edit]

Pak was born in Oakland, California, to author and retired professor Ty Pak. Pak has two siblings, Brigette and Andrew. He was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was influenced by its rich multi-cultural environment, studying classical guitar with Dwight Tokumoto and Charles Brotman. In 1984, Pak moved to Tustin, CA where he continued his classical guitar studies with Jeff Cogan at Chapman University. He graduated from Foothill High School in 1988. He continued his classical guitar studies with Jeff Cogan at Chapman University. He graduated from MIT with a B.S. in music in 1992. Encouraged by his professor Evan Ziporyn at MIT, band director and alum Jamshied Sharifi, and classmate and music major Alex Rigopulos , founder of Harmonix, Pak changed his path from engineering to music. In 1997 Pak received his M.A. from the Juilliard School of Music for classical guitar under Sharon Isbin. Upon graduating from Juilliard Pak began his career in music as both a performer and composer in New York City.

Career[edit]

Early activity 1997–2001[edit]

As a guitarist Pak became involved in the contemporary music scene in New York performing and recording with the likes of Evan Ziporyn,[9][10] Virgil Moorefield,[11] and the Flux Quartet.

His foray into dance and pop music began by doing guitar session work for house music duo Mood II Swing on the Wall of Sound album featuring Gerald Latham. He continued to work with Mood II Swing and recorded the guitars parts for Ultra Nate’s 1997 hit Free.[12] Free was certified Gold in both France and the UK. Free also reached number one in Italy and on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. This led to further collaboration with Mood II Swing on Ultra Nate's follow up single Found a Cure, which also was an international hit. Having performed all guitar parts and contributing chord progressions he is a credited songwriter on Found A Cure.[13] He went on to do the guitar parts from the ensuing album Situation: Critical.[14]

Film and documentaries[edit]

During this time Pak also began focusing on composing for film. He scored numerous student films which included New York University film student alumni John H. Lee (director), Greg Pak, and Kwak Kyung-taek (곽경택). He composed the score for Kwak Kyung-taek’s debut film 3pm Bathhouse Paradise (Eoksutang)[15][16] (1997) which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival. He also scored two award-winning short films directed by Greg Pak Mouse[17] and Asian Pride Porn[17] starring David Henry Hwang. His second feature film he scored was Miss Monday,[18][19] directed by Benson Lee, which won the Special Jury Prize for Best Actor Andrea Hart at the Sundance Film Festival.[20] In 2001 Pak scored e-Dreams,[21][22] directed by Wonsuk Chin, portraying the rise and fall of Kozmo.com, an online convenience store that used bike messengers to deliver goods ordered online within an hour.In 2002 Pak scored Black Picket Fence directed by the late Sergio Goes.[23] Pak won Best Composer for Black Picket Fence at 2002 The Brooklyn International Film Festival.[1]

Shortly after the 9/11 attack Pak moved to Los Angeles to further pursue film scoring and composing in 2002. Pak has gone on to collaborate with many directors on numerous films and documentaries. With director Grace Lee he composed the score for The Grace Lee Project[24][25] and American Zombie.[26][27] He teamed up again with director Benson Lee for the award-winning documentary Planet B-Boy[28][29][30] in 2007 and in 2015 composed the score for the 1980s throwback film Seoul Searching. Also of note is the Emmy award-winning documentary Girls on the Wall directed by Heather Ross. More recent films include Chris Kahunahana's Waikiki and the Korean film Life Risking Romance (목숨건연애) starring Ha Jiwon (하지원). Pak composed the score for artist Doho Suh for documentary projects Espirit Dior and The King's Bedroom.

Feature films and documentaries[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
1997 Eoksutang/3pm Paradise/억수탕 Kyungtaek Kwak (곽경택) N/A
1998 Miss Monday[31] Benson Lee Special Jury Prize: Best Actress, Sundance Film Festival
2001 e-Dreams Wonsuk Chin[32] N/A
2002 Black Picket Fence[33] Sergio Goes Winner: Best Score, Brooklyn International Film Festival
2005 The Grace Lee Project Grace Lee N/A
2005 Grassroots Rising [34] Robert C. Winn[35] N/A
2006 In The Tall Grass [36] Coll Metcalfe N/A
2007 American Zombie Grace Lee N/A
2007 Planet B-Boy Benson Lee N/A
2008 Always Be Boyz[37] [38] Johnny Kwon N/A
2008 Yours Truly Miss Chinatown[39] Daisy Lin Shapiro[40] N/A
2008 Crystal River[41] Brett Levner[42] N/A
2009 Girls On The Wall[43] Heather Ross Winner: Emmy Award
Winner: Best Documentary Chicago International Film Festival
2011 4 Wedding Planners[44] Michael Kang N/A
2012 Playback Michael A. Nickles N/A
2013 Wedding Palace[45] Christine Yoo N/A
2015 Seoul Searching Benson Lee N/A
2016 Life Risking Romance[46] (목숨건연애) Min-Gyu Song (송민규)[47] N/A
2020 Waikiki[48] Christopher Kahunahana[49] N/A

Short films[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
1997 Mouse[50] Greg Pak N/A
1998 The Mirror[51] Hee Lee Goung[52] N/A
2000 Asian Pride Porn[53] Greg Pak Starring David Henry Hwang and Michael Kang
2000 The Uncertainty Principle[54] Ted Kim[55] N/A
2002 Raise the Cane[56] Stephen A. Buck[57] N/A
2004 Perfection[58] Karen Lin[59] Starring Ming Na
2006 Safe[60] Ming Lo[61] N/A
2007 Within Limits[62] Eubin Kim[63] N/A
2007 Dish[64] David Quantic[65] N/A
2008 Name, Age, Sex[66] Peter Yunho Chung[67] N/A
2008 The Awakening Fire[68] Barry Berona,[69] Greg Daniels[70] N/A
2008 A Ball and 2 Cents[71] Gary Chan[72] N/A
2009 No Complaints[73] Joshua M. Bott[74] N/A
2009 Pretty[75] Jin Yoo-Kim[76] N/A
2009 The Nest[77] Katya Robert,[78] Kristofer Roberts[79] N/A
2010 Metronome[80] Rosanne Ma[81] N/A
2011 The Dragon Wall[82] Mark Freeman,[83] Brandon St. Cyr[84] N/A
2015 The Garden[85] Eugene B. Rhee[86] N/A

Television[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
2006 2006 Asian Excellence Awards[87] Michael Dempsey[88] AZN Television
2010-11 Suite 7, episode 7, "Supermen"[89] Michael Kang Lifetime

Musicals[edit]

In conjunction with film scoring, Pak, along with Brian Yorkey on book and lyrics and Welly Yang concept and book, were commissioned to write the musical Making Tracks.[90] They were also commissioned to write The Wedding Banquet (a musical adaptation of Ang Lee's Academy Award-winning film). Making Tracks first premiered in 1999 at the Taipei Theater[91] in New York[91][92][93] then went on to further development at Taiwan's National Theater in 2001,[94] Seattle's Village Theatre,[95] in 2002, and San Jose Repertory Theater in 2005.[96][97][98] The Wedding Banquet received its world premiere with productions in Singapore, Taiwan,[99][100] and Seattle.[101][102][103]

Since moving to Korea in 2014 Pak has been the composer for two musicals. The first was The Devil (더데블)[104][105] premiering in 2014 and having subsequent seasons in 2017 and 2019. The second musical Pak composed for was The Man Who Sold His Shadow (그림자를판사나이), which premiered in 2019. A Korean version of The Wedding Banquet musical is currently under development. Pak orchestrated and produced the soundtrack for the Hawaiian musical "A Timeless Princess", written produced by Denny Miyasato, premiering at the Mamiya Theater in Hawaii in 2019.[106][107][108] In 2019 Pak and writer Philip W. Chung were commissioned to write Poop! The Musical by Adventure Theatre. It was to premier in 2020 but due to Covid it has been postponed. Making Tracks was also to return to the stage in 2020 but it too was postponed to the pandemic. It is schedule to be performed at the Village Theater in Issaquah and Everett March 18-May 23, 2021.[109]

Korean[edit]

In addition to composing for film, documentaries, and commercials, Pak has been commissioned numerous concert pieces for that feature Korean traditional instruments like the gayageum and haegum. With Eunil Kang and Haegum Plus he has composed In The Clouds, The Chase, 4 Seasons, and Mother.[110][111] For gayageum virtuoso Soo-Fun Kwak he has composed 'Arirang Fantasy'. In 2017 Pak was commissioned to composer Manboksa Saranga (만복사사랑가 ) by the National Folk Gugak Center(국립민속국악원) to compose a Pansori opera for its resident Pansori company.

Branding and commercials[edit]

Pak has also composed for numerous commercials and branding films. Pak had a long collaboration with branding company dbox and its founder Matthew Bannister scoring many of their branding projects’ short films. He has composed numerous works for the multimedia production company .MILL. Projects include 3D mapping with BTS, media facades or Paradise City, Lotte World's 30th Anniversary, and VR experiences with Hyundai and Hanwha. Another multimedia company he regularly collaborates with Image Bakery with the most recent collaboration being the Special Exhibit at the National Museum of Korea titled After Every Winter Comes Spring.

His list of corporate clients include, AT&T, Honda, Hyundai, TNT, Prudential, Target, Anheuser-Busch, game companies Nexon and NC Soft, Amore Pacific, Google, Hanwha, FCUK, and Aesop to name a few.

Academia[edit]

Pak is a Professor of Applied Music at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.[112] He has been a resident artist at the Culture Hub New York and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club exploring Digital Storytelling. Disconnected[3] is a 360 video project with Culture Hub and La Mama Theater featuring avant garde soul singer Starr Busby.

Albums[edit]

Awards[edit]

  • 1985 Winner, Guitar ASTA California Regional
  • 1986 Semi-finalist ASTA National Competition
  • 1987 Semi-finalist GFA International Competition
  • 2002 Best Score Brooklyn International Film Festival for Black Picket Fence
  • 2015 Best Composer Korea Musical Awards for The Devil (더 데블)

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "BLACK PICKET FENCE by Sergio Goes @ Brooklyn Film Festival".
  2. ↑ "더 뮤지컬 어워즈 편집하기" – via Wikipedia.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "CULTUREHUB — Woody Pak". CULTUREHUB.
  4. ↑ "WOODY PAK". WOODY PAK. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  5. ↑ "Woody Pak". IMDb.
  6. ↑ "Woody Pak". IMDb.
  7. ↑ WA, DEI Creative in Seattle. "Making Tracks |".
  8. ↑ "How we made Free, by Ultra Naté". the Guardian. February 3, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Bang on a Can Marathon - New York Society for Ethical Culture - 1992 - Bang on a Can". bangonacan.org.
  10. ↑ "Evan Ziporyn – Animal Act". Discogs.
  11. ↑ [1]
  12. ↑ "Ultra Naté – Free". Discogs.
  13. ↑ "Ultra Naté – Found A Cure". Discogs.
  14. ↑ "Ultra Naté – Situation:Critical". Discogs.
  15. ↑ "3pm Paradise (1997)". imdb.com.
  16. ↑ "3pm Paradise" – via mubi.com.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Mouse (1997)". imdb.com.
  18. ↑ "Miss Monday (1998)" – via www.filmaffinity.com.
  19. ↑ "Miss Monday (1998)". imdb.com.
  20. ↑ "Film Festival Schedule" (PDF). www.sundance.org. 1997. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  21. ↑ "e-Dreams (2002)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  22. ↑ "E-Dreams (2001)". imdb.com.
  23. ↑ "Black Picket Fence (2002)". imdb.com.
  24. ↑ "The Grace Lee Project | TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
  25. ↑ "The Grace Lee Project (2005)". imdb.com.
  26. ↑ "American Zombie Cast and Crew – Cast Photos and Info". Fandango.
  27. ↑ "American Zombie (2007)". imdb.com.
  28. ↑ "Planet B-Boy (2007)". imdb.com.
  29. ↑ "Planet B-Boy – Cast & Crew on MUBI". mubi.com.
  30. ↑ "Planet B-Boy". www.tcm.com.
  31. ↑ "Miss Monday (1998) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  32. ↑ "Wonsuk Chin". IMDb.
  33. ↑ "Black Picket Fence (2002) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  34. ↑ "Grassroots Rising (2005) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  35. ↑ "Robert C. Winn". IMDb.
  36. ↑ "In the Tall Grass (2006) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  37. ↑ "Always Be Boyz (2008) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  38. ↑ "Johnny Kwon". IMDb.
  39. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326279/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_18 Yours Truly Miss Chinatown
  40. ↑ "Daisy Lin SHAPIRO". Taiwan Docs. December 4, 2012.
  41. ↑ "Crystal River (2008) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  42. ↑ "Brett Levner". IMDb.
  43. ↑ "Girls on the Wall". October 11, 2009 – via IMDb.
  44. ↑ "4 Wedding Planners (2011) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  45. ↑ "Wedding Palace (2013) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  46. ↑ [2]
  47. ↑ "Min-Gyu Song". IMDb.
  48. ↑ "Waikiki (2020) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  49. ↑ "Christopher Kahunahana". IMDb.
  50. ↑ "Mouse (1997) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  51. ↑ "The Mirror (1998) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  52. ↑ "Hee Lee Goung". IMDb.
  53. ↑ "Asian Pride Porn" – via IMDb.
  54. ↑ "The Uncertainty Principle (2000) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  55. ↑ "Ted Kim". IMDb.
  56. ↑ "Raise the Cane (2002) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  57. ↑ "Stephen A. Buck". IMDb.
  58. ↑ "Perfection (2004) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  59. ↑ "Karen Lin". IMDb.
  60. ↑ "Safe (2006) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  61. ↑ "Ming Lo". IMDb.
  62. ↑ "Within Limits (Video 2007) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  63. ↑ "Eubin Kim". IMDb.
  64. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1085395/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_23 Dish
  65. ↑ "David Quantic". IMDb.
  66. ↑ "Name, Age, Sex (2008) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  67. ↑ "Peter Yunho Chung". IMDb.
  68. ↑ "The Awakening Fire (2008) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  69. ↑ "Barry Berona". IMDb.
  70. ↑ "Greg Daniels". IMDb.
  71. ↑ "A Ball and 2 Cents (2008) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  72. ↑ "Gary Chan". IMDb.
  73. ↑ "No Complaints (2009) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  74. ↑ "Joshua M. Bott". IMDb.
  75. ↑ "Pretty (2009) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  76. ↑ "Jin Yoo-Kim". IMDb.
  77. ↑ "The Nest (2009) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  78. ↑ "Katya Roberts". IMDb.
  79. ↑ "Kristofer Roberts". IMDb.
  80. ↑ "Metronome (2010) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  81. ↑ "Rosanne Ma". IMDb.
  82. ↑ "The Dragon Wall (2011) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  83. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4387079/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1
  84. ↑ "Brandon St. Cyr". IMDb.
  85. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4493860/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
  86. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7163376/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1
  87. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768096/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
  88. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218752/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1
  89. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781633/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_11
  90. ↑ "Second Generation".
  91. ↑ 91.0 91.1 Gates, Anita (February 5, 1999). "THEATER REVIEW; Immigrants Traverse Miles and Generations in Song (Published 1999)" – via NYTimes.com.
  92. ↑ "New OB Musical Has Asian-Americans Making Tracks in New World, Jan. 30-Feb. 14". Playbill. January 29, 1999.
  93. ↑ http://michaelminn.net/theatre/1999-01-30-making-tracks/1999-01-30-making-tracks-nyc-program.pdf
  94. ↑ Yang, BookWelly; Pak, Brian YorkeyLyricsBrian YorkeyMusicWoody. "Making Tracks". NAMT.
  95. ↑ "Asian American musical in Issaquah, WA". www.aatrevue.com.
  96. ↑ Hurwitt, Robert (March 29, 2005). "REVIEW / Musical plays as Asian American history lesson". SFGATE.
  97. ↑ "Making Tracks @ San Jose Repertory Theatre – Tickets and Discounts". Playbill.
  98. ↑ "Metroactive Stage | 'Making Tracks'". www.metroactive.com.
  99. ↑ "Celebrating 'The Wedding Banquet\' in song". Taipei Times. August 1, 2003.
  100. ↑ Gans, Andrew (July 14, 2003). "The Wedding Banquet Musical to World Premiere in August". Playbill.
  101. ↑ ADCOCK, JOE (September 23, 2003). "Dawdling 'Wedding Banquet' has charm". seattlepi.com.
  102. ↑ Gans, Andrew (July 16, 2003). "Wedding Banquet Musical to Make U.S. Premiere at Seattle's Village Theatre". Playbill.
  103. ↑ "Talkin' Broadway Regional News & Reviews – Seattle: "The Wedding Banquet – 9/30/03". talkinbroadway.com.
  104. ↑ 수정 2014.08.24 21:51, 입력 2014 08 24 06:24 (August 24, 2014). "[리뷰]또 이지나 연출, 논란은 시작됐다…괴작 뮤지컬 '더 데빌'". 중앙일보.
  105. ↑ "더뮤지컬". www.themusical.co.kr.
  106. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "A TIMELESS PRINCESS, An Original New Musical, Opens At The Mamiya Theatre". BroadwayWorld.com.
  107. ↑ "A TIMELESS PRINCESS at Mamiya Theatre". The Hawai‘i State Theatre Council.
  108. ↑ "Music". A Timeless Princess.
  109. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "Village Theatre Has Announced its 2020-2021 Season". BroadwayWorld.com.
  110. ↑ "Conveying the power of mothers with haegeum: Composers use emotion-evoking instrument to tell stories from around the world". koreajoongangdaily.joins.com.
  111. ↑ "To all girls, take pride in yourselves". koreatimes. February 14, 2020.
  112. ↑ "공연창작학부". www.seoularts.ac.kr. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  113. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/1TKecw9f46cj252JZKBERD?si=56A138r5TXelFc_x1pmYBQ
  114. ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/album/hyped-urban-remix-feat-prime/253037144?app=music&ign-itscg=0176&ign-itsct=253037144-253037144&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
  115. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Hyped-Urban-Remix-Woody-Pak/dp/B000OYCKEG


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