Composer Chinary Ung

Borders-leaping composer Chinary Ung has long been acclaimed for his unique synthesis of Western classical traditions and the music of his Cambodian homeland. This year, he became the first faculty member in UC San Diego history to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters — and the only composer other than Terry Riley to be so honored this year.

“Chinary Ung’s beautiful, haunting music is emblematic of the way that the very best American art draws on a diversity of traditions,” said Cody Upton, executive director of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Ung has long championed diversity in his work. He has done so as a composer and as a music professor at UC San Diego for the past 25 years.

Ung’s induction this year marks the third time he has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It gave him a fellowship in 1981 and named him an American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award winner in 1988.

“The act of composing might have to do with something beyond our consciousness,” Ung told the Union-tribune on Feb. 26. “When you fall into the creative state, (you move) toward some kind of liberation. You liberate yourself, you discover yourself, you spill it out, express it sonically, and — in a way — you liberate it. You go deeper and get to know yourself from a certain angle that you never experienced before.” 2020 American Academy of Arts and Letters inductee

HOWARD LIPIN U-T