TRIBUTES TO ISANG YUN

In 2016, I commissioned solo piano works from composers Ingrid Stölzel, John Liberatore, Eduardo Costa Roldan, Seunghee Lee, Alejandro Roman, Girolamo Deraco, Christos Samaras, Fabio Massimo Capogrosso to celebrate composer Isang Yun’s life and music. 2017 was Yun’s birth centennial. Isang Yun (1917-1995) lived through the turmoil of WWII and the Cold War. After being kidnapped and imprisoned as an alleged Communist by the South Korean government, he was released following international protests and moved to West Berlin in 1969. Isang Yun’s music explores Korean sensibilities and the compositional techniques of European avant-garde music. The composer established his unique musical language based on the traditional Korean music ingrained in him, the Taoism that prevails in Korean culture, and European Modernism.

In 2017, I performed many concerts, programming commissioned works and Isang Yun’s Interludium A. Each commissioned work has its own take on Isang Yun’s life and music. The album Unus Mundus is tribute to the extraordinary composer, Isang Yun.

Modern Notebook Interview by host Tyler Kline: https://www.modernnotebook.org/modern-notebook-interview-pianisteunmi-ko