Isang Yun

Isang Yun was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany. He began to study violin at the age of 13 and composed his first melody. He studied music in Japan and Korea, and was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese occupation. He was imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese in 1943. After the liberation of Korea, he did welfare work and taught music in Seoul. He received the Seoul City Culture Award in 1955 and traveled to Europe to study composition in Paris and Berlin. He attended the International Summer Courses of Contemporary Music in Darmstadt and became part of the international avant-garde. He composed music that integrated Eastern and Western elements, such as the sound of Korean ceremonial music and the technique of twelve-tone serialism. He also used the concept of Hauptton (main tone) to create organic and flexible musical structures. He composed four operas, five symphonies, and many instrumental concertos and chamber works. He was kidnapped by the South Korean secret service in 1967 and accused of espionage for North Korea. He was tortured and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released in 1969 after international protests. He became a German citizen in 1971 and taught composition in Hanover and Berlin. He also advocated for the reunification of Korea and the reconciliation of the two countries. He died of pneumonia in Berlin in 1995 and was buried in Tongyeong, his hometown. He was a member of the Academies of Arts in Hamburg and Berlin, an honorary member of the International Society for New Music, and a recipient of the Goethe Medal and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany.