Born in 1942 in the rural Cambodian village of Prey Lvea in Takéo  Province, he is a Cambodian-American composer, teacher, archivist and performer whose life and work bring together the musical traditions of Southeast Asia with Western contemporary  classical music. He grew up surrounded by folk and ceremonial  music, which profoundly shaped his artistic identity. As a child he  absorbed the sounds of village musicians, pinpeat ensembles and  traditional instruments, while also experimenting creatively with  sound objects he made himself.

After moving with his family to Phnom Penh, Ung began studying at Cambodia’s newly established national music conservatoire,  where he studied Western classical music and clarinet. Deeply  inspired by composers such as Mahler and Mozart, he developed  an openness to different musical traditions. In 1963 he received  support from the Asia Foundation to study at the Manhattan  School of Music in New York. He arrived in the United States in  1964 with a modest command of English but with clearly defined  musical ambitions.

Although he initially concentrated on clarinet playing, he soon  turned to composition and studied with the influential ChineseAmerican composer Chou Wen-chung at Columbia University.  Under his guidance he explored how composers with cross-cultural experience could create original artistic languages rooted in  both heritage and innovation. In 1974 he earned a doctorate in  music from Columbia University.

Cambodia’s political collapse and the rise to power of the Khmer  Rouge profoundly affected Ung’s life. Unable to safely return to  his home country, he lived in exile while much of Cambodia’s  musical culture was being destroyed. From 1974 to 1985 he  largely stopped composing, focusing instead on preserving Cambodian cultural traditions. He assembled extensive archives of  recordings of traditional Cambodian music, released documentary albums through Smithsonian Folkways, taught Cambodian  music and culture in the United States, cofounded the Khmer  Studies Institute for refugees, and performed traditional pinpeat  music in various places across America. During this period he  also worked to rescue surviving family members from refugee  camps.

He gradually returned to composing and to developing a highly  individual musical language, combining Southeast Asian aesthetics, flexible concepts of musical time, refined vocal and instrumental expression, and modern experimental techniques. Ung’s  works often address themes of spirituality, memory, compassion  and healing. His breakthrough came with the composition Inner  Voices, for which he received the prestigious Grawemeyer Award  for Music Composition in 1989, becoming the first American  recipient of that award.

In later years, Ung revisited Cambodia for the first time in more  than three decades, which renewed his emotional and artistic  ties to his homeland. His later music increasingly engaged with  themes of suffering and reconciliation through Buddhist ideas,  references to Cambodian music, and the integration of performers’ voices with their instruments. Over the course of his career  he also taught at institutions including Northern Illinois University, Connecticut College, the University of Pennsylvania, Arizona State University and the University of California San Diego,  where he held the title of Distinguished Professor.

Selected works: Por for percussion, five performers (1968), Tall  Wind for soprano, flute, oboe, cello and guitar (1970), Anicca for  symphony orchestra (1971), Mohori for mezzo-soprano, flute,  oboe, cello, guitar, harp, piano and two percussionists (1973),  Khse Buon for cello (1980; rev. for viola, 2005), Child Song (version 1) for flute, viola, cello and piano (1985), Child Song (version 2) for alto flute, viola, cello and harp (1985), Inner Voices for  symphony orchestra (1986), Spiral I for cello, piano and percussion (1987), Spiral II for mezzo-soprano, tuba and piano (1989),  Grand Spiral for symphonic wind orchestra (1990), String Quartet no. 1 Spiral III (1990), Grand Spiral (Desert Flowers Bloom)  for symphony orchestra (1991), Spiral VI for violin, cello and  piano (1992), Triple Concerto: A Sonorous Path for cello, piano,  percussion and chamber orchestra (1992), Antiphonal Spirals  for orchestra (1994), Water Rings for orchestra (1994), Spiral VII  for English horn, bass clarinet, horn and bassoon (1994), Rising  Spirals for guitar (1996), Grand Alap (A Window in the Sky) for percussion and cello (1996), …Still Life After Death for soprano,  baritone, flute, piano, percussion, violin and cello (1996), Seven  Mirrors for piano (1997), Luminous Spirals for flute, shakuhachi,  guitar and cello (1997), Rising Light for piano, soprano, baritone,  choir, children’s choir and orchestra (1998), Radiant Samadhi for  eight-voice choir (1999), Interlude from Rising Light for orchestra  (2001), Gliding Wind for double bass (2001), Oracle for flute, violin, clarinet, cello and percussion (2004), Child Song (version 3),  revised version for alto flute, viola and harp (2005), Sakrava:  An Evening Song for Orchestra (2005), Spiral IX: Maha Sathukar  for baritone, viola and percussion (2006), Rain of Tears, chamber  concerto (2006), Aura for two sopranos and ensemble (2006), Spiral X: In Memoriam for amplified string quartet (2007), Spiral XII:  Space Between Heaven and Earth for large mixed choir and chamber orchestra (2008), Spiral XIII: Formless Spirals for pipa, viola,  cello, piano and percussion (2009), After Rising Light for soprano  and piano (2009), Cinnabar Heart for marimba and voice (2009),  Spiral XI: Mother and Child for singing violist (2009), After Rising Light for tenor and piano (2011), In Memoriam for piano trio  (2011), Spiral XIV: Nirmitta for clarinet, piano and two percussionists (2012), Singing Inside Aura for amplified singing violist  and chamber ensemble (2013), Neak Pean for flute and English  horn (2017), Spiral XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth for  13 vocal soloists and chamber ensemble (2017), Singing Inside  Aura for amplified singing violist and traditional Korean orchestra (2017), Four Elements for marimba and voice (2018), Terigatha Inside Aura for two singers and three singing instrumentalists (2018), Songs of Ananda Tera for marimba and voice (2020),  Bot Tanvaay (Musical Offering) for wind instruments, strings and  a traditional Khmer instrument (2022), Khmeraspora Triptych for  string ensemble, solo oboe, two percussionists, singer/narrator  (parts I and II) and Khmer Pinpeat Ensemble (part III) (2023),  Seven Apsara Dances for the Paul Dresher Ensemble, with viola  and traditional Vietnamese instruments (2023), Intertwining  Shadows for singing flautist, singing pianist and tape (2025).