1. Isang Yun, or Yun I-sang, was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany.
22 Facts About Isang Yun
1. 2.
Isang Yun's family moved to Tongyeong when he was three years old.
3.
Isang Yun began to study violin at the age of 13 whereupon he composed his first melody.
4.
In 1935 Isang Yun moved to Osaka where he studied cello, music theory, and composition briefly at the Osaka College of Music.
5.
Isang Yun soon returned to Tongyeong where he composed a "Shepherd's Song" for voice and piano.
6.
In 1939 Isang Yun traveled again to Japan, this time to Tokyo in order to study under Tomojiro Ikenouchi.
7.
Isang Yun was arrested for these activities in 1943 and was imprisoned for two months.
8.
Isang Yun was interned at Keijo Imperial University Hospital for complications resulting from tuberculosis when Korea was liberated from Japanese rule in August 1945.
9.
Isang Yun received the Seoul City Culture Award in 1955, and traveled to Europe the following year to finish his musical studies.
10.
From October 1959, Isang Yun had been living in Krefeld, Freiburg im Breisgau and Cologne.
11.
Isang Yun was released on 23 February 1969, returning to West Berlin at the end of March.
12.
Isang Yun taught composition at the Hochschule fur Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and at the Hochschule der Kunste in West Berlin.
13.
In 1982, the first Isang Yun Festival took place in Pyongyang.
14.
Isang Yun promoted the idea of a joint concert featuring musicians from both Koreas in Panmunjom, which failed in 1988, but South Korean artists could be invited to Pyongyang in 1990.
15.
Two concerts with works of Isang Yun had been performed in Seoul by Heinz Holliger, Ursula Holliger, and Francis Travis, later by Roswitha Staege and Hans Zender.
16.
Isang Yun was invited to attend a festival of his music in South Korea in 1994, but the trip was broken off after internal and external conflicts.
17.
On 3 November 1995, Isang Yun died of pneumonia in Berlin.
18.
The International Isang Yun Society was founded in Berlin in February 1996.
19.
Oh Kil-nam has said that Isang Yun persuaded him to relocate to North Korea with his family.
20.
When Oh's wife Shin Suk-ja and her little daughters were imprisoned in Yodok camp, Isang Yun helped them and took photos and a tape from North Korea to Berlin.
21.
Isang Yun's music employed techniques associated with traditional Korean music, such as glissandi, pizzicati, portamenti, vibrati, and above all a very rich vocabulary of ornaments.
22.
In both Europe and the United States, Isang Yun developed a strong reputation as a composer of avant-garde music, assigned those signature elements of traditional Korean musical technique.