Her creative output ranges from works for solo instruments to full orchestra, as well as choral, ballet and electroacoustic music. She has received commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation (2019/2004), the National Flute Association, Texas Flute Society, the Tongyoung International Music Festival (2007/2005), the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Keumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music, the International Isangyun Music Society and the MATA Festival.
Over the last decade, Sungji's music has been performed by leading players and ensembles in over 45 countries and 213 cities at such venues as the Carnegie Hall (New York), the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), the Gewandhaus (Leipzig), the Konzerthaus (Berlin), the Flagey (Brussels), the Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Temple Church (London), the Merkin Hall (New York), the Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), Athens Concert Hall (Athens), the Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), the Cantacuzino Palace (Bucharest) and the National Theatre 'Opera and Ballet' (Ljubljana).
She has won Franz Josef Reinl-Stiftung (1st Prize), Magistralia (1st Prize), In Nova Musica Competition (1st Prize), Ilshin Composition Prize (1st Prize), Jesus Villa-Rojo (1st Prize), the European Competition of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (1st Prize), the Brave New Works Composers Competition (1st Prize), the Temple Music Composition Prize (1st Prize), the Crwth Competition (1st Prize), the international competition for original ballet music at the ISCM World Music Days – Slovenia (1st Prize), the Montserrat International Camera Music Composition Competition (1st Prize), the Salvatore Martirano Composition Competition (2nd Prize), the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Competition (2nd Prize), the Theodore Front Prize (IAWM), the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (ACL) and Ilshin Composition Prize.
Her music has been widely broadcast in more than 17 countries (37 channels including BBC Radio 3, SWR 2, DLF, MDR FIGARO, WNYC 2, RDP-Antena 2, HRT 3, ERT, YLE Radio 1, ABC CLASSIC FM and others) and has been recorded and released on the Soundbrush, Elektramusic, Atoll, Dutton label and by ECM Records. Her music is published by Tetractys Publishing in the UK. (https://www.tetractys.co.uk/section726143_318070.html)
Her recent CD release Stella Maris on the ECM New Series (ECM 1929), performed by the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval, received critical acclaim and reached the top ten on the Billboard Classical Chart and Itunes classics. Since it was released, her Missa Lumen de Lumine has been performed by Trio Mediaeval in over 83 cities around the world, at the International Music Festival Bath, the Festival International de Musiques Sacrées, the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Gernrode MDR Musiksommer, the David Oistfest Festival, the Venice Music Festival, the Ettiswil Festival, the Bergen International Festival, the Kuoroespoo International Choral Espoo Esbo Körfestival, Hong Kong Arts Festival and others.
Sungji was born in Seoul in 1973 and began piano lessons at the age of five. She studied composition at the Hanyang University in Seoul and subsequently completed her MMus at the Royal Academy of Music in London and her PhD in composition with Nicola LeFanu at the University of York in the UK. She has participated in various workshops and masterclasses such as Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont) and in Darmstadt where she studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Theo Loevendie, Tristan Murail and Toshio Hosokawa, as well as the International mastercourse and workshop for conductors and composers with Peter Eötvös and Zsolt Nagy in Herrenhaus Edenkoben.