Governor's Heritage Award - Maria Seo

Dr. Maria Kongju Seo of Seattle is an instrumentalist and scholar of Korean traditional music and a pianist. A native of Korea, she was first trained as a pianist in the Western classical tradition. Later Seo became proficient in Korean traditional music, studying kayagum (twelve-stringed zither) at Seoul National University, and learning the changgu drum. Seo has lived in North America since 1961 and she moved to Seattle in 1986. Seo has gained recognition as a tireless promoter of Korean traditional music. She has been teaching Korean music, conducting research in Korea, and organizing performances of Korean master musicians in the greater Seattle area. Seo received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington in 2000 for her research on the music of the Korean shamanic tradition, distinguishing herself as a musician, a scholar, and teacher.