Isang Yun Biography

Isang Yun	Born: 1917-09-17 Birthplace: Tongyeong, South Korea Died: 1995-11-03 Location of Death: Berlin Race: Asian Field: Composer Famous for: Exemplum in Memoriam Kwangju
Field: Composer

Isang Yun (also spelled Yun I-sang; September 17, 1917 - November 3, 1995) was a Korean composer who spent most of his creative career in Germany.

Yun I-sang was born in Chungmu (now Tongyeong) in 1917. He studied music in 1933, and composition in 1938 under Tomojiro Ikenouchi. After Japan entered World War II, he moved to Korea and participated in the Korean independence movement. He was captured and imprisoned by the Japanese in 1943.

After the war, he established an orphanage for war orphans. He also started a musical career, and went on to receive the Seoul Culture Prize in 1955.

In 1956, Yun traveled to Europe. In Paris and Berlin, he studied contemporary music under Boris Blacher, Josef Rufer, and Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling. He attended International Summer Courses of Contemporary Music in Darmstadt, and began his career in Europe with premieres of his Five Pieces for Piano and Music for Seven Instruments. His music was recognized for its fusion of East Asian and Western classical musical traditions. The premiere of his oratorio Om mani padme hum in 1965 and Réak in 1966 gave him international renown.

In 1967, Yun became involved in the East Berlin spy incident. On June 17, he was kidnapped by the South Korean secret police, along with his wife I Soo-ja and many Korean students in West Berlin. He was condemned for espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment. A worldwide petition led by Igor Stravinsky and Herbert von Karajan was presented to the South Korean government, signed by approximately 200 artists, including Luigi Dallapiccola, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Mauricio Kagel, Josef Keilbert, Otto Klemperer, György Ligeti, Arne Mellnas, Per Nørgård, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Yun I-sang was released and exiled in 1969. He was not allowed to visit South Korea.

From 1970 to 1985 he taught in Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin. He attained German citizenship in 1971. Outside Korea, Yun claimed for settlement of democracy in South Korea. He composed Gwangju Forever in 1980 to the memory of Gwangju massacre.

He often visited North Korea since 1979, and promoted join concert of both Koreas, which took place in 1990.

Yun was invited from a festival of his music in South Korea in 1994, but the trip was broken off after the conflict with the government. On November 3, 1995, Yun I-sang died of pneumonia.