Chronicle 1995–2024 (below )
November 3, 1995
Isang Yun dies at the age of 78 in Berlin-Spandau.
November 22, 1995
World Premiere of the Quartet for Oboe and String Trio (1994) at the Konzerthaus Vienna. In a spontaneous change of the programme, Heinz Holliger plays in addition, under the impression of the death of Isang Yun, the oboe solo Piri (1971).
November 26, 1995
Commemorative concert in the Konzerthaus Berlin, supported by the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Berliner Festspiele, the Hochschule der Künste Berlin and Yun’s publisher Bote & Bock. In this concert, initiated by Burkhard Glaetzner, appear the Scharoun Ensemble, Elisabeth Glass and Uwe-Martin Haiberg (violin), Roswitha Staege (flute), Burkhard Glaetzner (oboe), Walter Grimmer (violoncello), Eduard Brunner (clarinet), and Marion Hofmann (harp). Ulrich Eckhardt gives a short commemorative speech. This concert was followed by a Korean ceremony in the music club of the Konzerthaus with speeches by Günter Freudenberg and Du-Yul Song.
November 28 to Dezember 2, 1995
“In memoriam Isang Yun” working week at the Goethe-Institut Seoul. Workshops on the performance practice of Isang Yun’s music, lectures and discussions as well as three concerts with his works, including the Korean premieres of the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1991), the Seven Etudes for Violoncello solo (1993) and the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 2 (1994). From Germany and Switzerland, Roswitha Staege (flute), Eduard Brunner (clarinet), Marion Hofmann (harp) and Walter Grimmer (violoncello) participate in this project. It was prepared by Sngkn Kim and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer. The Seoul music magazine Gaeksok / Auditorium dedicates a special supplement to Isang Yun.
January 1996
MusikTexte No. 62/63 is published in Cologne with 17 contributions about Isang Yun.
Januar 6, 1996
Commemorative concert of the Hanoverian Society for New Music at the NDR Hanover broadcasting centre. Besides works by Isang Yun, there were premieres by Younghi Pagh-Paan (Noch … after poems by Rose Ausländer for female voice and viola, 1996), Kunsu Shim (hören / tutti for six instruments, 1995) and Erwin Koch-Raphael (composition No. 50 for string trio, 1995).
Februar 4, 1996
The Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin-Tiergarten is the venue of a commemorative concert of the Berlin University of the Arts initiated by Peter Schwarz. Among others, the Haushofer cantata An der Schwelle (1975) and the German premiere of the Epilogue for soprano, female choir and five instruments (1994) has been performed.
Februar 17, 1996
Founding meeting of the Isang Yun International Society in the Joseph Joachim Room of the Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin. Present are the friends of Isang Yun, musicians from Germany, Norway and Switzerland. Heinz Holliger plays Piri (1971), Holger Groschopp Interlude A (1982). At the end of 1996 the Society has 108 members. To the founding members belong Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (musicologist), Roswitha Staege (flutist), Günter Freudenberg (philosopher), Marion Hofmann (harpist), Hans-Jürgen Radecke (publisher) and Wolfgang Vieweg (sound engineer). A prominent board of trustees will be elected a few weeks later.
April 16 & 17, 1996
Yun’s former students in Tokyo organize a memorial concert with Garak for flute and piano (1963), Gasa for violin and piano (1963), Interludium A for piano (1982), Quartet for Oboe and String Trio (1994), Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 2 (1994), and Teile Dich Nacht. Three Poems by Nelly Sachs for soprano and chamber ensemble (1980).
Mai 20, 1996
Cooperation agreement with HanYoung International Cultural Exchange (HICE), represented by Sngkn Kim, Seoul. The agreement provides for the foundation of a relatively independent section of the Isang Yun International Society in the Republic of Korea and regulates the modalities of cooperation.
November 2, 1996
At a concert of our partner HICE in Seoul, in which, among others, the Seouler Quartet 21 is involved, about 30 members are recruited for the South Korean section of our Society.
November 3, 1996
At the annual meeting of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, Kaya Han plays the piano works of Isang Yun. Introduction: Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer.
November 8, 1996
The Berlin commemoration concert for the first anniversary of Isang Yun’s death is also the first concert of the Isang Yun International Society. The project is supported by the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Goethe-Institut / Munich Cultural Program. Our cooperation partner HICE in Seoul and a Korean patron of the arts make it possible for the members of Quartet 21 from Seoul to participate. At the press conference before the concert on October 30, 1996, the one-hour television film on Isang Yun November Elegy by Barrie Gavin and Ursula Klein hs been be presented in cooperation with the Sender Freies Berlin (SFB).
November 21, 1996
In a commemorative concert in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, the Isang Yun International Society appears as co-organizer alongside “14.30 A.M. Radio” and the “Korea Times”. US-American first performances of, among others, Mr. Yun’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1991) and his Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 2 (1994).
March 1997
The first volume of the yearbook Ssi-ol. Almanach 1997 is published in print and distributed to the members and friends of the Isang Yun International Society. The Korean “Ssi-ol” means the thread that creates pattern and profile during the weaving process, the thread that links information about Isang Yun, continues the discussion about his work and activities and gives impulses to the debate. The almanac contains among other things a contribution to the biography of Isang Yun (Heinrich Hannover), the portrait of a Yun interpreter (Francis Travis) as well as an essay on a composition by Yun (Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1991).
April 28, 1997
“Aspects of the Flute Music of Isang Yun”: Project for all transverse flute and recorder classes at the Berlin University of the Arts, directed by Gerd Lünenbürger. Lecture by Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer. Concert with flute music by Isang Yun.
Juni 17, 1997
“In my imagination I could fly”. Feature by Margot Overath on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Isang Yun’s abduction at Sender Freies Berlin (SFB).
August 26, 1997
Benefit concert in aid of the Isang Yun International Society within the the Bach Festival Weeks organized by Besse Welsh in the Scherzligen Church in Thun (Switzerland): Roswitha Staege (flute), Louise Pellerin (oboe), Walter Grimmer (violoncello), Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (moderator).
September 17, 1997
On the day of Isang Yun’s 80th birthday, the Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin, initiated by Burkhard Glaetzner, performed works by Isang Yun and Japanese composers at the Konzerthaus Berlin. For this concert Jōji Yuasa composed Reigaku in memoriam Isang Yun for alto flute solo (1997). From Toshio Hosokawa members of the ensemble played Memory (in memoriam Isang Yun) for violin, violoncello and piano (1996) and from Makoto Shinohara Kyūdō B for alto flute (flute) and harp (1973). The ensemble had been founded with the aim of performing works of Isang Yun and, in addition, new music of Asian (especially East Asian) composers. The debut concert the Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin had been supported by the Japan Cultural Institute (The Japan Foundation) in Cologne and by the Sender Freies Berlin (now: RBB), which recorded the concert.
November 3 to 9, 1997
Project Week Asia – Korea – Yun. Symposium – Courses on Performance Practice – Concerts at the University of the Arts, Berlin. While the opening concert (with the teachers of the instrumental courses) exclusively featured works by Isang Yun, a second concert juxtaposed songs from the traditional Korean Gagok repertoire with works by Yun. Participants were the Chongnong-Ensemble Seoul, the l’art pour l’art-Ensemble Hamburg, Christina Khimm (New York), Uwe-Martin Haiberg (Berlin) and Siegfried Mauser (Salzburg).
Analysis and performance mediated between artistic and musicological work. In the first workshop Yun’s main work Images for flute, oboe, violin and cello (1968) had been thematized, analyzed and in parts also performed. The second workshop was devoted to a late work, the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1991): Siegfried Mauser reported on the changes Yun made to the first version up to the final form of the work (revision of the dynamics, reduction of the piano part). The third workshop dealt with the relationship of the traditional Korean genre Gagok to Yun’s compositions of the same name: Gagok for voice, guitar and percussion (1972) and Gagok for voice and harp (1985; the work hads been premiered here). Robert C. Provine was especially helpful in deciphering Yun’s Gagok.
The three-day Symposium had been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG – German Research Foundation). In his keynote lecture Elmar Budde (Berlin) charaterized Yun’s personal style with the statement that in this music “everything” has been achieved at every moment and that on the other hand “in what has been achieved, it always refers to what has not been achieved”. The three thematic areas of the symposium revolved around the complexes “Korea I: Language – Music”, “Korea II: Aesthetics – Myth – Poetics” and “Yun: Aspects of Voice Setting”. Dieter Eikemeier (Tübingen) refered to characteristics of the Korean language which can be significant for the music of Isang Yun (phrases and phrase combinations, accent, onomatopoeia and ornamentation). Heinz-Dieter Reese (Cologne) gave an overview of traditional (Chinese-)Korean court music and its repertoire. Byong-Won Lee (Hawai’i) reported on ornamentation practice in traditional Korean court music.
In the panel called “Korea II: Aesthetics – Myth – Poetics” Günter Freudenberg (Urberg) showed that Yun’s thinking is close to the syncretic (East Asian-Christian) tonghak, which was formulated in Korea at the end of the 19th century in contrast to the Western doctrine of sŏhak. Tonghak consciousness is concerned with the conflict “between modernization under the sign of Westernization on the one hand and the regaining of one’s own cultural identity on the other”. Kii-Ming Lo (Taipei) compared the East Asian material of Isang Yun’s four operas with their German librettos. Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (“Vom Tao II oder Der Synkretismus: Prinzipien des Tonsatzes bei Yun” [From Tao II or Syncretism: Principles of Yun’s composition]) used examples from Yun’s complete works to illustrate the scope of his statements “Every smaller sound figure must contain the basic concept of the whole piece … ” and “Each of my pieces must contain the whole of my musical world”.
Under the motto “Yun: Aspects of setting speech to music”, Jürgen Maehder (Berlin) analysed excerpts from Yun’s operas against the background of contemporary works for music theatre created in Europe. Keith Howard (London) dealt with the syncretic use of Korean Buddhist and Confucian traditions in the work of Isang Yun and attempted to see Yun’s work against the background of the history of Korean new music and its composers. Robert C. Provine (Durham) pointed out the relationship between traditional Korean genres and Isang Yun’s works: between the Korean song form Sijo and Yun’s Symphony IV “Singing in the Dark” (1988) and the traditional Kagok repertoire and Yun’s Gagok (1972 and 1985). Thomas Kabisch (Trossingen) analysed the “dialectic of construction and expression” in Yun’s Gagok (1972) under the conditions of western under the conditions of Western art music.
The exhibition of print graphics on Isang Yun’s composition Images (1968) by the Korean artist Hye-Jeong Chung (Nuremberg) also was a part of the programme.
The project had been supported by the Berlin University of the Arts and its Institute for New Music, the DFG (German Research Foundation) in Bonn, the Franz Grothe Foundation in Munich, the music publisher Bote & Bock in Berlin, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia in Basel and our cooperation partner HICE in Seoul.
May 1998
At the Korea Festival “In the Year of the Tiger” at the House of World Cultures in Berlin, two programs of the Hyonok Kim Dance Company were based exclusively on music by Isang Yun: the solo program “A Tribute to Isang Yun” and the group choreography “Trans-Island of Waiting Souls”. (“A Tribute to Isang Yun” was also presented at the Goethe-Forum Munich.)
As part of this festival, the Isang Yun International Society presented the concert “Contemporary Korean Music”. Works by the composers Isang Yun, Younghi Pagh-Paan and Unsuk Chin, who are active in Germany, as well as premieres of works by younger composers living in Korea, Yongeun Paik, Bonu Koo and Sngkn Kim, should present a representative spectrum of new Korean music, performed by the Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin and the Contemporary Music Ensemble Seoul. (This concert had been preceded by a two-hour introductory matinee on the history of Korean music, Isang Yun and newer trends in composing in the Republic of Korea.) Also within this festival, the Korean shaman Kim Keum-Hwa celebrated a Chinogi Kut, a shamanistic death ceremony for Isang Yun.
May 23, 1998
The Isang Yun Flute Quartet, which emerged from the Isang Yun International Society, received the Special Prize of the jury of the 2nd Chamber Music Competition of the Berlin University of the Arts.
Oktober 28, 1998
Commemorative concert for Isang Yun at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken with Roswitha Staege, Eduard Brunner, Martin Galling, Gabrielle Brunner, Walter Grimmer and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer.
February 1999
From live recordings of our concerts in Berlin and Seoul with chamber music works by Isang Yun, most of it recorded by Wolfgang Vieweg, we produced our CD IYG 001, distributed on the occasion of the third anniversary of the society. The CD IYG 001 contains the Trio for Flute (Alto Flute), Oboe and Violin (1972/73) with Roswitha Staege, Burkhard Glaetzner and Uwe-Martin Haiberg, the Chinesische Bilder [Chinese Pictures] for flute(s) solo (1993) with Roswitha Staege, the String Quartet IV (1988) with the Quartet 21 from Seoul and Images for flute, oboe, violin and violoncello (1968) with Roswitha Staege, Burkhard Glaetzner, Kolja Lessing and Walter Grimmer.
May 2 to 18, 1999
The Isang Yun Ensemble Pyongyang has been touring in Germany with concerts organized by the House of World Cultures HKW in Berlin and financed by the German Foreign Office. The Isang Yun International Society was involved in the planning and realization. Five concerts took place in Berlin, Hanover, Wiesbaden (May Festival), Schloss Elmau and Rheinsberg. The program of the German tour of the Isang Yun Ensemble Pyongyang has been recorded in Schwetzingen, released on a CD by Wergo WER 66392.
Mai 22, 1999
Korean premiere of the opera Sim Tjong (1971/72) at Seoul Arts Center.
May 26, 1999
Talmuri (Dalmuri): A concert with Yun’s early songs in his hometown Tongyeong, inspired by Sngkn Kim and the Korean section of the Isang Yun International Society, is the nucleus of the later so called Tongyeong Music Festival.
November 1999
The second volume of our yearbook Ssi-ol has been published in time to be presented at our Yun Week in Stuttgart. Ssi-ol. Almanach 1998/99 is richly illustrated with music samples and photos, and contains on 247 pages the printed versions of some of the lectures held during the symposium “Asia – Korea – Yun” in Berlin 1997, interviews with interpreters, previously unpublished songs by Yun from his Korean period, reports from Seoul and Pyongyang as well as other materials.
The publication of the 1988/99 almanac is supported by the GEMA Foundation in Munich with a printing cost subsidy. The books are distributed by the edition text + kritik, Munich.
November 1 to 7, 1999
Project Asia – Korea – Yun in connection with the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart: courses for instrumentalists, workshops for analysis and interpretation as well as lectures and concerts.
Workshops for analysis and interpretation with the theme “gesture and ornament”: flute – taegŭm (Roswitha Staege – Chongsung Kim), oboe – p’iri (Ingo Goritzki – Chihwan Park), violoncello / harp – kayagŭm (Walter Grimmer / Ursula Holliger – Chiông Yi). These three workshops were moderated by Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer and the music ethnologist and Korea expert Keith Howard. Instrumental solos by Yun, who composed exclusively for Western instruments and wrote down his works in traditional European notation, had been confronted with pieces from the repertoire of traditional Korean music. Yun’s handling of the musical material as well as his consciousness of form are oriented towards the originality postulate of Western art music; the gestures characteristic of his music are in principle derived or developed from Korean traditional music; a serious difference to Korean traditional music can be found in the works for one melodic instrument, for example, in the interval structures.
Lectures, mainly by younger musicologists, on their work on Isang Yun: Ae-Kyung Choi, Ilja Stephan, Shin-Hyang Yun. (Their dissertations, dealing with Yun, have meanwhile been published in Germany, see bibliography.)
A total of six public concerts took place within the Stuttgart Yun Week: These are the opening matinée of the pianist Kaya Han, two concerts with chamber music by Isang Yun and Hwang-Long Pan (Taipei), a concert with traditional and new music from Korea on Korean traditional instruments, a concert of the participants of the instrumental courses, and the evening “Music, Eurythmy and Dance” at the Stuttgart Eurythmeum. In the latter, the Stuttgart Eurythmy Group, the Else-Klink-Ensemble, under the direction of Michael Leber, interpreted works by Isang Yun, and the dancer and choreographer Hyonok Kim from Taegu / Korea will showed parts of her solo programme “A Tribute to Isang Yun”. Yun’s chamber music works had also be performed live on this evening. – The concert with traditional instruments featured works by Korean composers: Sngkn Kim (Ok II for a string and wind instrument, 1999 – WP), Hyŏ-Shin Na (Chichangbulgong for kayagŭm solo, 1997) and Mirim Kim (Man & Nong II for taegŭm, guitar and kayagŭm, 1999).
The realization of the project “Asia – Korea – Yun” in Stuttgart was made possible by generous donations of the GEMA Foundation in Munich, and a private sponsor as well as thanks to the committed and selfless efforts of all participants.
November 9, 1999
In cooperation with the Hochschule der Künste Berlin a concert with works by Isang Yun and with traditional Korean music took take place immediately after the Yun week in Stuttgart. Márton Végh and a string quartet rehearsed by Uwe-Martin Haiberg played among other works Yun’s three-movement Quintet for Flute and String Quartet (1986).
November 18, 1999
The Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin, which emerged from the work of the Isang Yun International Society played contemporary Korean music in Mannheim: Works by Isang Yun and Younghi Pagh-Paan and the St. Francis’ Song for flute, violin and cello (1992) by Hyonjoo Lee.
November 23, 1999
At the suggestion of Hartmut Höll, members of the Isang Yun International Society participated in the discussion concert “The Japanese crane and the Korean tiger” of the Hugo Wolf International Academy in Stuttgart: Eduard Brunner, Oan-Ho Meng (Seoul) and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer.
January 8, 2000
With the support of the composer Adriana Hölszky a Yun-day took place at the University of Music and Theatre in Rostock: a lecture and analysis seminar (Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer), a concert with Marion Hofmann (harp), Roswitha Staege (flute) and Chia-hsuan Tsai (oboe), and the film “November-Elegie” by Barrie Gavin and Ursula Klein.
February 18 to 20, 2000
The first Tongyeong Music Festival was held in Isang Yun’s hometown of Tongyeong, “in memory of Isang Yun”. It hads been organized by the city of Tongyeong in cooperation with the Isang Yun International Society, section Korea, represented by Sngkn Kim, who was responsible for the content and organization. Under the direction of Do-ki Kim, the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra performed Yun’s orchestral piece Silla (1992), his Flute Concerto (1977, with Márton Végh as soloist) as well as the Symphony II (1984). In two chamber music concerts, the Kumho Asiana Quartet performed, among others, the string quartets V (1990) and VI (1992), and Márton Végh played flute solos by Yun and Jôji Yuasa. Also performed were, among others, Rauhe Pinselspitze [Rough Brush Tip] for Kayagŭm and Puk (1992), a work by Klaus Huber dedicated to Isang Yun, and the Song of Tongyeong (1966), a previously unknown song that Yun had written in Aspen / Colorado for a citizen of his hometown.
February 18 to 21, 2000
Among the 36 topics of the 6th International Conference on Korean Studies organized by the Center of Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i, there is a panel on Isang Yun, with Byong-Won Lee (Hawai’i), Tai-Bong Chung (Seoul), Günter Freudenberg and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer as participants.
June, 22 to July 2, 2000
With the motto “Present in the future. Composer Institutes and their mission”, an international conference with representatives of those institutions which focus on a single composer had been held on the initiative of the Orff-Zentrum München. The Isang Yun International Society was also invited and present at this conference.
June 13, 2000
In cooperation with the Isang Yun International Society, a concert of the Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin with contemporary Korean music took place in the “Spiegelsaal” of Schloss Theater Rheinsberg. For this concert the Isang Yun International Society had commissioned a composition: Jin-Ah Ahn, who studied with Younghi Pagh-Paan in Bremen, wrote por amor for violoncello and harp (2000), which had been performed for the first time by Anna Carewe (violoncello) and Marion Hofmann (harp).
November 4, 2000
On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of Isang Yun’s death, a memorial concert was held at the Konzerthaus Berlin, juxtaposing works by Isang Yun and Claude Debussy. The program, the Yun parts of which were subsequently produced for a CD of the label “Capriccio” in cooperation with the DeutschlandRadio Berlin, included Yun’s Piano Trio (1972/75), Yun’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (1991), his Duo for violoncello and harp (1984) and Debussy’s Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1915), and Yun’s Novellette for flute and harp with violin and violoncello (1980) plus a similarly scored work by Claude Debussy, the Sonata for Flute, Harp and Viola (1915). The concert was financed exclusively from the Society’s own funds. The musicians included Roswitha Staege (flute), Maria Graf (harp), Holger Groschopp (piano), Kolja Lessing (violin), Hartmut Rohde (viola), Walter Grimmer (cello).
February 16 to 18, 2001
The second Tongyeong Music Festival in Yun’s hometown was held under the motto “Music and Women”. It was organized by the city of Tongyeong in cooperation with the Kyŏngsangnamdo region, the radio and television station MBC Masan, the Goethe Institute and the Isang Yun International Society, section Republic of Korea: Sngkn Kim, Seoul and Tongyeong, was responsible for the content and organization of the festival.
The Korean premiere of Yun’s Symphony IV “Singing in the Dark” (1986) was given in the opening concert of the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Do-ki Kim. The Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin with Roswitha Staege (flute), Ingo Goritzki (oboe), Aitzol Iturriagagoitia (violin) and Anna Carewe (cello) performed a program with works by Isang Yun including Images (1968).
At a symposium on the festival theme, Christian Utz and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer, among others, spoke about Yun’s 4th Symphony. The Isang Yun International Society also supported the festival through the mediation of guest composer Isabel Mundry, conductor Jobst Liebrecht, sound engineer Wolfgang Vieweg, music critic Martin Wilkening (FAZ) and further people interested in Yun and Tongyeong.
One of the main streets of Tongyeong was renamed “Isang Yun Street” at a ceremony.
May 2001
At the invitation of the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Taipei conducted by Chung-Fu Lee and the composer Hwang-Long Pan, Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer gave in Taipei lectures on Isang Yun and Hwang-Long Pan.
July 2001
The second CD of the International Isang Yun International Society, CD IYG 002, is released in cooperation with our South Korean section and the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation. The CD (rec. 1974/87) contains the following works by Isang Yun: Ouverture for large orchestra (1973; rev. 1974): RSO Saarbrücken, Hans Zender; Quartet for Flutes (1986): Roswitha Staege / Irmela Bossler / Ayla Caymaz / Susanne Winkler (Fl. ); Memory for three voices and percussion (1974): Carla Henius / William Pearson / Gisela Saur-Kontarsky (voices and percussion); Teile Dich Nacht. Three Poems by Nelly Sachs for soprano and chamber ensemble (1980): Dorothy Dorow (S.), Ensemble Intégration Saarbrücken, Hans Zender (cond.); Symphony III (1985): RSO Saarbrücken, Myung-Whun Chung. – The cover of this CD shows a poem by Kim Chi-Ha dedicated to Isang Yun. The CD IYG 002 had been financed by members’ contributions and a grant from the GEMA Foundation.
October 28 to October 30, 2001
The oboist Diethelm Jonas organized two concerts and a lecture (Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer) including a round table (with Thomas Kabisch, Hugo Noth and Helmut Thanheiser) at the Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen under the motto “Attempt to find the true way to play Yun”.
Oktober 28, 2001
A concert planned for the opening of the “Isang Yun International Foundation” in Berlin was taken over by the Isang Yun International Society. The establishment of the foundation had failed in July 2001. Nevertheless, a generous private donation made this “Memorial Concert on the 6th Anniversary of Isang Yun’s Death” possible, in which works by Yun and J. S. Bach were juxtaposed.
The program included Riul for clarinet and piano (1968), J. S. Bach’s Sonata I for violin solo G minor BWV 1001, Yun’s String Quartet V (1990), Piri (1971, clarinet version), J. S. Bach’s Partita I B minor BWV 1002 (Nos. 5-8) and Yun’s Gasa for violin and piano (1963), performed by Eduard Brunner (clarinet), Bernhard Kastner (piano), Hansheinz Schneeberger (violin) and the Iturriaga Quartet with Aitzol and Iokine Iturriagagoitia (violin), Katia Stodtmeier (viola) as well as Rebekka Riedel (violoncello).
November 1 to 4, 2001
The donation of the same patron also made possible the highlight of the Yun year 2001, the “International Isang Yun Academy” From Asia to Europe: The Composer Isang Yun in Leipzig. This project, which was carried out in conjunction with the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Academy of Music, included the following events:
Instrumental courses, which already began on 29 October, with Irmela Bossler (flute), Christian Wetzel (oboe), Eduard Brunner (clarinet) and Hansheinz Schneeberger (violin);
the opening concert (with a lecture by Gesine Schröder), the Chamber Concerto I (in the Old Town Hall with Irmela Bossler, Martin Spangenberg and the Iturriaga Quartet), and Chamber Concerto II (with Heinz Holliger, Christian Wetzel, Hansheinz Schneeberger and others). In addition to works by Isang Yun, works by his students could be heard: Herbst-Lied for clarinet and string quartet (2001) by Toshio Hosokawa and Waterfall in Mist for flute, oboe, violin and violoncello (1989) by Keith Gifford, composed in Leipzig;
a workshop moderated by Keith Howard (London) on the analysis and interpretation of Yun’s Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 2 (1994);
a conversation with Heinz Holliger;
a two-day symposium on Yun with Christian Utz from Vienna (“Intercultural Reception Processes”), Eunsook Park from Seoul (“Main Tone Model and Nonghyôn Technique”), Dörte Schmidt from Stuttgart (“Yuns Images, Debussy and the Invention of a Third Space between Europe and Asia”), Christian Ahrens and Martin Lücke from Bochum (“On the Perception of Form Structures”), Eberhard Hüppe from Münster (“Individuation through Integration”), Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (“On Static and Dynamic Traditions in Music”), Dieter Eikemeier from Tübingen (“On the Text of Yun’s composition Memory“), Ilja Stephan from Hamburg (on Yun’s works from 1987-1994) and Ae-Kyung Choi from Seoul (“On Harmonics in Late Works by Isang Yun”).
February 2002
The 288-page volume Ssi-ol. Almanach 2000/01 has been published and again distributed by the edition text + kritik in Munich. The yearbook contains texts by Isang Yun, general remarks on the Chinese and Japanese languages by Richard Wilhelm and Wilhelm Gundert, thoughts on Korea and Yun by Günter Freudenberg, contributions on Yun by Ilja Stephan, Dieter Eikemeier and Ae-Kyung Choi, as well as extensive, previously unpublished material on the abduction of Isang Yun by the South Korean secret service KCIA in 1967. Arnold Schönberg’s previously unpublished draft for an “International School of Style Education” rounds out the volume, which is generously endowed with photographs and reproductions of works of fine art.
March 8 to 16, 2002
The Tongyeong Music Festival in Isang Yun’s hometown is renamed Tongyeong International Music Festival in 2002; the renaming also has implications for the content. The festival has developed from a three-day festival of new music (based on the model of Donaueschingen) to a ten-day festival that also performs works from the 18th and 19th centuries. (The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on this under the headline “The Salzburg of Asia”). The Korean section of the Isang Yun International Society under the leadership of Sngkn Kim is responsible for planning and organization. The festival is supported by the city of Tongyeong, the radio and television station MBC Masan and the music magazine Gaekseok / Auditorium, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Korea in Seoul, the Korean National Tourism Organization, the Kyeongsangnamdo Region, the Kumho Cultural Foundation, the Tongyeong Culture Foundation, the Goethe Institute Seoul, the Pro Helvetia Foundation in Zurich, and the Gaudeamus Stichting in the Netherlands. A main sponsor of the festival is also the airline Asiana Airlines; among the sponsors are Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and Nokia TMC, Koram Bank, KT and others. A special Festival House was inaugurated in February 2002.
In this context, the Isang Yun International Society Berlin has the – honorary – task to mediate between German and Swiss artists and the festival, to support planning and organisation.
The 2002 festival bears the motto Fanfare & Memorial [signal (for renewal) & remembrance]. The work of the same name by Isang Yun (for orchestra with harp solo, 1979) is performed in the opening concert of the Changwon Philharmonic under the direction of Francis Travis. Soloist of Yun’s Clarinet Concerto (1981) is Eduard Brunner, who also plays two chamber music concerts with the Amati Quartet Zurich (Yun’s Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet No. 1, 1984; his String Quartet VI, 1992). – Under the direction of Burkhard Glaetzner, the Korean TIMF Ensemble and the Mandelring Quartet from Mannheim perform Yun’s Pièce concertante for chamber ensemble (1976). Members of the Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin (Burkhard Glaetzner, Hans-Joachim Greiner and Marion Hofmann) present a pure Yun program. Members of the Modern Art Sextet Berlin play Yun’s Quartet for Flute, Piano, Violin and Violoncello with Intermezzo for violoncello and piano (1988). The Kumho Asiana String Quartet performs Yun’s early Debussy-oriented String Quartet I (1955), after several decades for the first time. A solo recital is given by flutist Robert Aitken (Sori, 1988). The final concert of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Myung-Whun Chung features Yun’s composition Réak for large orchestra (1966).
September 21, 2002
In collaboration with Peter Schwarz and the ars-nova-ensemble Berlin, a Commemoration Concert for the 85th birthday of Isang Yun takes place in the Kaiser Friedrich Memorial Church. With 30 participants, it is the most elaborate concert in the history of the Isang Yun Society. Berlin premieres are the choirs from the opera “Sim Tjong” Vom Tao (1972/82) with organ and percussion as well as the unpublished children’s pieces For Aki for double bass (1981). A string quartet of the Saarland Radio gives new perspectives for Yun’s String Quartet III (1959/61). The main work of the programme is the cantata based on texts by the preacher Solomon and Lao-Tse The Wise Man for baritone, mixed choir and small orchestra (1977).
The concert is financed by the Initiative Neue Musik Berlin e. V., the GEMA Foundation Munich, the Deutscher Musikrat Bonn (Christian Schmidt, organ) and the Isang Yun International Society.
March 25 to April 2, 2003
The concerts of the Teongyeong International Music Festival 2003 are linked by motti such as “Dream” (referring to the performance of the two Yun operas Dreams, 1965 and 1967/68), “Vienna” or “Sacred Music”. Among the highlights are the concerts of the Ensemble Modern, with Heinz Holliger as soloist and conductor of Yun’s Oboe Concerto (1990). With Ursula Holliger and the Iturriaga Quartet, Heinz Holliger gives chamber music concerts in Tongyeong and Seoul. The Isang Yun International Society has also arranged for the participation of pianist Kaya Han, flutist Márton Végh and the Isang Yun Flute Quartet as well as the Hugo Wolf Quartet from Vienna. The main programme with a total of 20 concerts or performances with music was flanked by an extensive supporting programme with jazz, Korean culture and other events.
September 27, 2003
In cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts, the Isang Yun International Society is organizing the first concert in its series “Yun Workshop” in which Isang Yun will be related to other composers. The concert is a part of the Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin 2003. Yun-Werkstatt I: + Bach presents, among others, the great Sonata in B minor by J. S. Bach (Roswitha Staege, Brigitte Engelhard) and the Trio in E major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (with Shih-Chun Chen). Versions of works by Isang Yun are juxtaposed: The duo Harmonie (= Invention IV, 1983) is performed in the version with two flutes and in the version with two oboes, Shao Yang Yin (1966) in the version for harpsichord (registered after Edith Picht-Axenfeld) and in the piano version (by Kaya Han). Bernhard Kury (Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) and Holger Groschopp perform the duo version of Yun’s Flute Concerto (1977) for the first time in public. The piano reduction was worked out and written by Holger Groschopp, a student of Yun, with the intention to make it easier to rehearse this difficult work in the future. (Meanwhile there exists also a trio version of the concerto for flute, piano and percussion.)
September 28, 2003
At the annual general meeting in Berlin, Prof. Christian Wetzel, Leipzig, is elected as the successor to Roswitha Staege as deputy chairman. The Board of Directors appoints Ms. Staege as curator of the Society.
November 22 to 30, 2003
Gyeongnam International Music Competition 2003: The first Isang Yun International Music Competition takes place in Tongyeong and is, among others, supported by Gyeongnam Province and MBC Masan Radio and Television. This first competition has its focus in the category cello. (In the following years, violin and then piano are the subject of the competition.) The competition is to be held annually and is endowed with approximately 25,000 US dollars (1st prize).
The 2003 jury, chaired by German cellist Siegfried Palm, includes Young-Chang Cho, Myung-Wha Chung, Luis Claret, David Geringas, Walter Grimmer, Arto Noras, Leslie Parnas and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. 71 cellists from 23 countries had registered to participate. In the first round of the competition 23 cellists played; five of them reached the third and final round. The 1st prize was awarded to Julie Albers (USA), the 2nd prize to Bong-Ihn Koh (Korea / Berlin), who played Yun’s Cello Concerto (1975/76) in the final concert; the 3rd prize went to Boris Andrianov (Russia).
March 2004
Two publications of the Isang Yun International Society appear just in time for the Teongyeong International Music Festival 2004: Ssi-ol. Almanach 2002/03 as well as a third CD, CD IYG 003, with early orchestral pieces by Isang Yun: Bara (1960); Fluctuations (1964); Dimensions for large orchestra with organ (1971); Namo for three sopranos and orchestra (1971): NDR-Sinfonieorchester, Hiroyuki Iwaki; Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Peter Ronnefeld; Peter Schwarz (Org. ), RSO Berlin, Hans Zender; Dorothy Dorow / Maria de Francesca / Slavka Taskova (S.), RSO Berlin, Michael Gielen (recordings 1965, 1971, 1972).
March 22 to 27, 2004
The Teongyeong International Music Festival with the motto “eSpace” is opened with Yun’s great opera Geisterliebe [Ghost Love] (1969/70). The State Symphony Capella of Russia plays Yun’s Concertante Figures (1972). The program includes concerts of contemporary Korean music, a cycle of cello suites by J. S. Bach (Matt Haimovitz and other cellists), “Variété” by Mauricio Kagel and Schönberg’s “Gurrelieder”.
October 30, 2004
Konzertsaal Bundesallee of the University of the Arts Berlin: Yun-Werkstatt 2: + Webern with the string quartet of the Saarland Radio, Thomas Meyer (clarinet) and Randolf Stöck (piano).
November 13 to 20, 2004
Gyeongnam International Music Competition 2004: Violin competition in Tongyeong with Saschko Gawriloff as chairman of the jury.
April 2005
CD IYG 004 with the re-release of the cantatas An der Schwelle [On the Threshold] (Albrecht Haushofer, 1975), Der weise Mann [The Wise Man] (Prediger Salomo / Lao-tzu, 1977), the oboe solo Piri with Heinz Holliger (1971) and the new recording of two cello etudes (1993) with Myung-Jin Lee.
September 20 to 24, 2005
„Wechselströme. Ostasien + …“ [“Alternating Currents. East Asia + …”]: A project of the Konzerthaus Berlin in cooperation with the Isang Yun International Society on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Weeks 2005.
October 29 to November 5, 2005
Gyeongnam International Music Competition 2005: Piano competition in Tongyeong with Klaus Hellwig as chairman of the jury.
November 3 to 5, 2005
The Isang Yun International Society presents three concerts for Isang Yun on the 10th anniversary of his death: Isang Yun zum 10. Todestag.
May 2006
The CD IYG 005 contains two orchestral works with the Berliner Philharmoniker: the recording of the world premiere of Symphony V for large orchestra with baritone solo after poems by Nelly Sachs (1987) with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as soloist and the orchestral piece Muak (1978) as concert recording from 1981, both works conducted by Hans Zender.
June 2006
Prof. Kim Sngkn, musical director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival, resigns after ten years as chairman of the Korean section of the Isang Yun International Society. The Isang Yun Peace Foundation in Seoul, represented by Mrs. Djong Yun, takes over the leadership of the Korean Section.
October 14 to 16, 2006
Concerts with Chamber Music by Isang Yun in Berlin (Church of St. Matthew at the Philharmonie) and in Munich (Orff Centre). In cooperation with the Stiftung St. Matthäus Berlin, the Orff-Zentrum Munich and the Isang Yun Peace Foundation Seoul.
January 2007
The CD IYG 006 contains recordings of chamber music works and instrumental solos by Isang Yun, all of which are the work of the Isang Yun International Society and its sound engineer Wolfgang Vieweg: Sori for flute solo (1988), String Quartet III (1959/61), Etude IV for bass flute (1974), Shao Yang Yin (1966; piano version), Clarinet Quintet II (1994).
June 22, 2007
Soli virtuosi: Cyclic performance of all flute and cello etudes by Isang Yun. In cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts and the soloist classes of Roswitha Staege and Jens Peter Maintz.
August 2007
The Isang Yun Peace Concert prepared for October 3 in Berlin, at which musicians from North and South Korea were to perform Yun’s Symphony V (the “Nelly Sachs -” or “Peace Symphony”) together with German musicians, failed due to the cancellation of North Korea. The funds for the concert, which would have been organized by the Isang Yun International Society, had been provided by the Isang Yun Peace Foundation Korea, the Goethe-Institut Korea, the Ministry of Unification in Seoul and the German Foreign Office in Berlin.
September 2007
In Seoul, the first International Isang Yun Music Prize in Composition 2007, endowed with 20,000 US dollars, is awarded to the Chinese Linda Wang for her composition Silhouettes for 16 instruments. Considerable concert activities of the Isang Yun Peace Foundation on the occasion of Isang Yun’s 90th birthday.
November 8 to 10, 2007
In collaboration with the Berlin University of the Arts we organize the project Yun im Kontext: Europa / Berlin [Yun in Context: Europe / Berlin] with two concerts, the Yun Dialogues I + II (piano + …), as well as a musicological symposium (with twelve speakers) under the direction of Rainer Cadenbach and Dörte Schmidt. In the concerts, almost all of Isang Yun’s duo works for a melodic instrument and piano were performed. With the support of the GEMA Foundation Munich.
September 2008
Under the motto “Contrasts”, the CD IYG 007 presents instrumental solos and duos with piano in exemplary recordings by the Isang Yun International Society.
November 15, 2008
Our Concert in Berlin with works by Yun, Berio and Gobokar includes the world premiere of an arrangement of Yun’s Gasa for violin, piano (also celesta) and percussion (also cimbalom) by Hansheinz Schneeberger (2008).
April 27, 2009
Our yearbook Ssi-ol. Almanach 2004-09 is published and again distributed by edition text + kritik in Munich.
January 10, 2010
Matinee Matinee Yun + …. : Young Musicians I (Jacob Spahn, cello; Daniel Seroussi, piano) at the Berlin University of the Arts with works by Brahms, Yun and Beethoven.
April 2010
The CD IYG 008 is released with early orchestral works by Isang Yun, including as its first release Yun’s first orchestral work in Europe, the Symphonic Scene (1960/61) conducted by Bruno Maderna. The Concertante Figures for small orchestra with flute, violin and oboe (1972) also appear on CD for the first time.
November 3, 2010
On the 15th anniversary of Isang Yun’s death, the Isang Yun International Society in Berlin organized the concert Yun + …. : Young Musicians II. The clarinet trios of Beethoven, Brahms and Yun played musicians awarded by the Deutsche Musikrat (DMR – German Music Council): “Duo Riul” – Sebastian Manz (clarinet), winner of the ARD Competition 2008, and Martin Klett (piano) – together with Jakob Spahn (violoncello), who shortly before had received a special prize at the ARD Competition 2010.
March 6, 2011
Matinee Yun + …. : Young Musicians III at the Berlin University of the Arts with works by Schubert, Debussy and Yun, performed by Daniel Seroussi (piano), Stefan Hempel (violin) and Mischa Meyer (violoncello).
May 7, 2011
The Isang Yun Trio Prague plays works by Isang Yun in the Church of St. Matthew at the Berlin Philharmonie, including the world premiere of Kleines Doppelkonzert [Little Double Concerto], Duo for oboe and harp (1977/88).
July 3, 2011
Théâtre de Vevey: Concert for the 90th Birthday of Francis Travis with Roswitha Staege, Heinz Holliger, Reto Bieri, Stefan Buri, Ursula Holliger, Randolf Stöck, Matthias Würsch, Hansheinz Schneeberger and Jakob Spahn.
September 17, 2011
Yun House Berlin: start of the series “Reading Korea. Lectures on Korean History and Culture”. Before each lecture a composition by Isang Yun is performed live. Opening of a small permanent exhibition on Isang Yun. Further dates: October 22nd, November 26th. A project of Isang Yun International Society.
November 3, 2011
Yun + …. : Young Musicians IV at the Berlin University of the Arts. The Duo Parthenon – Christine Rauh, winner of the International Isang Yun Violoncello Competition in Tongyeong 2009, and Johannes Nies, piano – performed works by Isang Yun, Frédéric Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
December 2011
After a defamatory report in the Financial Times Germany the board of directors of the Isang Yun International Society issues a statement on the Oh Kil-nam affair.
March 31, 2012
Yun House Berlin: continuation of the series “Read Korea. Lectures on Korean History and Culture”. Before each lecture a composition by Isang Yun was performed live. Further dates: May 5th, June 2nd.
June 7, 2012
Yun + …. : Young Musicians V Continuation of the series “Read Korea. Lectures on Korean History and Culture”. Before each lecture a composition by Isang Yun will be performed live. Further dates: May 5th, June 2nd.
November 3, 2012
Brilliant performance of the clarinet quintets of Isang Yun by Martin Spangenberg and the Eisler Quartet Berlin in the concert Yun + …. : Young Musicians VI . The programme also included the String Quartet No. 13
a-minor (“Rosamunde”) and the quartet movement in c-minor D. 703 by Franz Schubert.
December 15 & 17, 2012
The second attempt to unite the house and estate of Isang Yun in the Yun House Berlin fails. The owner of the house, the Isang Yun Peace Foundation, which depends on donations, has been unable to pay the running costs since August. The appeal for donations (Spendenaufruf Yun-Haus) as well as the private commitment of Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer make it possible to keep the house for a few more months, but Sparrer sees himself forced to lay down the management of the house in mid-December. Djong Yun clears out parts of her father’s estate and all pictures on December 15. The furnishings of the rooms in the basement and the permanent exhibition on Isang Yun brought in by the Isang Yun International Society are dismantled on December 17. A partly historically grown, partly reconstructed and partly newly built ensemble is destroyed; three years of construction work are in vain.
April 27, 2013
Yun + …. : Young Musicians VII at the Berlin University of the Arts: piano recital Daniel Seroussi.
September 2013
With the support of Boosey & Hawkes, the CD IYG 009 with the Flute Etudes I and II (1974), Gasa for violin and piano (1963) and Yun’s Quintet for Flute and String Quartet (1986) is released. A catalogue novelty is also the trio version of Gasa for violin, piano (celesta), cimbalom and percussion, which Hansheinz Schneeberger composed in 2008.
November 2-3, 2013
In cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts: Yun-weekend with Workshops on the flute and violoncello etudes of Isang Yun (Henrik Wiese and Adele Bitter), the piano etudes by Claude Debussy (Klaus Hellwig), a Solistenkonzert (soloist concert with Mizuka Kano, Bernhard Kury, Henrik Wiese, Adele Bitter, Mischa Meyer, Uladzimir Sinkevich) and the preview of Maria Stodtmeier’s film “In Between – The Composer Isang Yun in North and South Korea”.
March 2, 2014
Berlin: Matinée Jakob Spahn – Holger Groschopp with works by Isang Yun, Jean Sibelius and Edvard Grieg.
April 2014
The CD IYG 010 with Yun’s Oboe Concerto (1990), the choir “O Licht … “ (1981) and the Chamber Symphony II “To the Victims of Freedom” (1989) is released: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Heinz Holliger (soloist and conductor); Akiko Tatsumi (violin), Siegfried Fink / Rainer Römer (percussion), Süddeutscher Rundfunk Choir, Marinus Voorberg; Ensemble Modern, Lothar Zagrosek.
September 19, 2014
For Isang Yun (on his 97th birthday) – for the first time since the festival “Wechselströme” [Alternating Currents] (2005) Yun’s composition Images (1968) is performed in Berlin. The still young ensemble was put together by Mischa Meyer, solo cellist of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
November 11, 2014
Berlin: Klaus Huber on his 90th Birthday – das Dreigenerationenquartett [three-generation quartet] Basel was founded for the performance of Klaus Huber’s two string quartets: Moteti – Cantiones (1962/63) and … Von Zeit zu Zeit … [… From time to time …] (1984/85). Egidius Streiff plays Yun’s Kontraste (1987), Walter Grimmer the Etude I (1993). With support from Pro Helvetia.
October 2015
The two buttons (sections) Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin and Yun-Programs (Chamber Music) are removed from the website. The Isang Yun Ensemble Berlin has long since become a pool of Yun interpreters, who can be flexibly cast according to individual projects. The extensive offer of 27 Yun + programs with 17 different chamber music formations can not be updated anymore.
November 1 & 7, 2015
In Berlin two concerts on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Isang Yun’s death: Naturklang im Raum / Nature Sound in Space. Young Musicians play Yun (at the “Kleine Philharmonie” in Berlin-Kladow), and Yin and Yang, Polarity and Perfection (with Roswitha Staege, Heinz Holliger, Eduard Brunner, Holger Groschopp, Egidius Streiff, Ruth Killius and Walter Grimmer). The second concert was preceded by the lecture with music Vom Licht im Kerker. Heinz Holliger plays and explains “Piri” [The light in the dungeon. Heinz Holliger plays and explains ‘Piri’].
December 2015
Yun House Berlin: With the support of the city of Tongyeong, Isang Yun’s daughter is carrying out the third and last “raid” against the continued existence of the Yun House Berlin as a museum: Yun’s study and the furniture remaining in the house are shipped to Tongyeong in early December. The house owner, the Isang Yun Peace Foundation in Seoul, was not able to secure the contents of the house. The sale of the Yun House to a German foundation fails due to an objection by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Korea, which announces an investigation of the events on December 23.
October 28, 2016
Berlin, Joseph-Joachim-Saal: Berlin, Joseph-Joachim-Saal: With the concert Naturklang im Raum [Nature Sound in Space], the Berlin-Kladow program of November 2015 is “re-activated” in a varied manner. The Quartet for Flutes (1986), which Roswitha Staege rehearsed with her former students, is performed again after many years. “Such Yun-pur programs should go on tour, because they make you so intimately acquainted with Yun’s music that you go beyond the mere perception of the phenomenon. Yesterday I had the impression of ‘feeling’ Yun while composing. Even though his music has avant-garde qualities and even though it is also limited, it, or the perspective it opens up, seems universal.” (Matthias Entress, 29 Oct. 2016)
November 2016
The CD IYG 011 is released with the first and the last vocal symphonic work that Isang Yun composed in Europe, in Berlin: Inspired by Buddhism is the oratorio Om mani padme hum (1964); self-immolation in social protest is the theme in the Angel in Flames with Epilogue (1994). In the Epilogue for soprano, women’s choir and five instruments, Yun wanted to create a “nature sound or cosmic space sound” – “sounds that the soul hears when it has left the body”. The Epilogue is a requiem for the burnt victim and at the same time for Isang Yun himself.
March 27, 2017
In cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts, we present a Auftakt-Konzert zu Yun 100 [Prelude Concert to Yun 100] with works by Claude Debussy (Sonata for flute, viola and harp), Luciano Berio (Folk Songs) and Isang Yun (Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon and French Horn; Loyang; Pièce concertante). Prominent soloists appear under the name Isang Yun Soloists, Ursula Hesse von den Steinen (mezzo-soprano), Catherine Larsen-Maguire (cond.). The concert was made possible by an invitation to the Tongyeong International Music Festival, where the program was repeated on April 1.
June 17, 2017
50th anniversary of the abduction of Isang Yun from the Federal Republic of Germany to Seoul. See the report of the Federal Foreign Minister to the President of the Fifth German Bundestag of 21 March 1968, Drucksache V/2748 [Printed Paper V/2748].
July 5, 2017
The First Lady of the Republic of Korea, Mrs. Kim Jung-Sook, visits and honours the grave of Isang Yun
Isang Yun 100
Isang Yun’s 100th birthday is the occasion for a series of events, among others within the Musikfest Berlin from 10 September 2017 – the dates in Berlin are listed in overview (Termine im Überblick) and in detail (in the flyer First Cycle). The September program includes a roundtable on the political background at the Akademie der Künste Berlin, and the
exhibition “Isang Yun: Life + Work”(Aug. 31 until early Oct.) in Berlin Philharmonie, Foyer Chamber Music Hall (from this exhibition the book Isang Yun: His Life and Work in Pictures emerged in 2020).
Organized exclusively by the International Isang Yun Society, the Second Cycle was held in Berlin from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2017, with five concerts, a workshop and the symposium “Isang Yun and the Avantgardes of his Time”, financed by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. Organized in cooperation with the University of the Arts and the Paul Gerhardt Church.
Numerous other activities related to Yun 100 in Dresden, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Saarbrücken, Rottweil, etc.
June 20, 2018
Reopening of the Yun House Berlin under the direction of the Isang Yun Peace Foundation, Seoul and Dr. Jin-Heon Jeong with ambitious goals: Program.
September 17, 2018
Matt Haimovitz visits the Yun House Berlin: “Isang Yun has greatly impacted my life. I consider his brilliant cello concerto as the most significant work in the pantheon of compositions over the past 100 years.” (Matt Haimovitz, 2018). CD: Matt Haimovitz plays the Cello Concerto of Isang Yun
Oktober 21, 2018
Matinée Mischa Meyer at the Joseph-Joachim-Saal, Berlin.
November 24, 2018
Peace Talk and Concert in Yun House Berlin. An event organized by the Isang Yun Peace Foundation in memory of the “Appeal for Isang Yun” in the year of his imprisonment in 1968.
March 30, 2019
Heinz Holliger, Anita Leuzinger and Anton Kernjak in in a memorable concert in the Joseph Joachim Hall at the University of the Arts Berlin. Works by Holliger, Kurtág, Yun, Schumann and Beethoven.
February 2020
The Isang Yun International Society, Berlin, again takes over the management of the Yun House Berlin, which has a considerable need for renovation and a neglected garden including outdoor facilities.
März 2020
After several years of preparation, the trilingual monograph Isang Yun: Leben und Werk im Bild / 윤이상: 사진으로 보는 인생과 예술 / Isang Yun: His Life and Work in Pictures is published by Wolke-Verlag.
September 13, 2020
Adele Bitter (violoncello) and Holger Groschopp (piano) open the Yun-Haus Berlin with a one-hour house concert, which has been played twice, at 4 and 6 p.m. Program: Roberto Gerhard (Sonata for cello and piano, 1956), Ludwig van Beethoven (Sonata in C major op. 102 No. 1, 1815), Isang Yun (Duo, 1984). See also: https://mailchi.mp/459ced46a548/newsletter-23-juli-12133439
October 24, 2020
Long before the pandemic, our extraordinary program had already been planned with the juxtaposition of two weighty trio compositions from the second half of the 20th century. Both works seem slightly monstrous not only because of their nearly half-hour duration, but also because of their extreme degree of difficulty in performing: Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s “Concerto scénique” Présence for violin, violoncello, piano and a mute “speaker” (1961) was confronted with Yun’s Sonata for oboe, harp and viola (1979).
Performers: Sophia Jaffé (violin), Mischa Meyer (violoncello), Björn Lehmann (piano), Mathias Donderer (speaker) – Viola Wilmsen (oboe), Marion Ravot (harp), Annemarie Moorcroft (viola). Program. See also: https://mailchi.mp/ab4ae4616f44/villa-elisabeth-samstag-24-okt-um-19-uhr
January 31, 2021
Due to the pandemic situation: video recording of a lecture at the Yun House Berlin on the background of Yun’s two-movement Symphony IV “Singing in the Dark” (1986). Yun dedicated the second movement to “Asian women who are disregarded and oppressed by male society”, especially the Comfort Women. On the latter followed a conversation with Nataly Han, Chair of the Koreaverband in Berlin. Both videos at youtube.com.
March 21, 2021
“For the beginning of spring”: first live-streamed concert at the Yun House Berlin with works by Mozart (Sonata in C major for piano and flute, K. 14, London 1764), Beethoven (Serenade in D major for flute and piano op. 41, 1801/02) and Isang Yun (Five Pieces for piano, 1958; The Actor with the Monkey for flute, and The Hermit at the Water for alto flute, 1993). With Márton Végh (flute) and Daniel Seroussi (piano).
May 16, 2021
Live Stream II “Contrasts”: Solo-Recital Goetz Hartmann (violin) in Yun House Berlin. Compositions by Tzvi Avni, J. S. Bach, Paul Hindemith, and Isang Yun
June 19, 2021
Live-Stream III “At the beginning of summer”: Solo-Recital Adele Bitter (Violoncello) in Yun House Berlin. Compositions by Ursula Mamlok, Ahmed Adnan Saygun, Isang Yun, and Alberto Ginastera
August 21, 2021
Yun House Berlin: The performance of Yun’s Violin Concerto III (1992, in 2003 arr. for violin and piano by Holger Groschopp) with the violinist Sueye Park has been cancelled due to illmess. On very short notice Holger Groschopp agreed to present a solo recital as an alternative to the planned programme.
Live-Stream IV “Summer Interlude”: Holger Groschopp plays works by Claude Debussy, Karol Szymanowski (“Métopes” No. 1, 1915), Isang Yun, Arnold Schönberg (op. 11), and Ferruccio Busoni.
September 26, 2021
Live-Stream V “At the beginning of autumn”: Ji-Yeoun You plays in Yun House Berlin compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven (“Fantasy” op. 77), Dae-Seong Kim (Piano Sonata “Atman”, 2016), Isang Yun (“Interludium A”, 1982), and Bernd Alois Zimmermann (“Capriccio – Improvisations on folk tunes”, 1946).
December 5, 2021
Live-Stream VI “Advent”: Henrik Wiese (flute) and Mischa Meyer (violoncello) play in Yun House Berlin works by J. S. Bach und Isang Yun.
January 16, 2022
Live-Stream VI “Isang Yun and the Viola”: Duo for Viola and Piano (1976) – “Contemplation“ for two violas (1988). A Concert in Yun House Berlin with Hwayoon Lee and Hartmut Rohde (viola), Daniel Seroussi (piano), Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (moderation in German).
May 29, 2022
Live-Stream VIII “Broken and stretched times”: Randolf Stöck (piano). – Compositions by Samir Odeh- Tamini, Anton Webern, Isang Yun, Franz Schubert (Sonata G Major op. 78). – Yun House Berlin
June 12, 2022
Live-Stream IX “East Asia in the West”: Yezu Woo (violin), Tomoki Park (piano) with compositions of Dai Fujikura, Eun-Hwa Cho, Toshio Hosokawa, Unsuk Chin, Isang Yun (“Gasa”). – Yun House Berlin
June 26, 2022
“Lieder-Matinée” with works by Alban Berg (Seven early songs), Isang Yun (Five early songs), Maurice Ravel (“Cinq mélodies populaires grecques”), Kun-Woo Lee (three songs), Olivier Messiaen (VI und VII from “Harawi”, 1945). – Universität der Künste Berlin, Joseph Joachim Saal
Yeree Suh (soprano), Holger Groschopp (piano)
September 25, 2022
Live-Stream X “Insisting vs. flowing”: Daniel Seroussi (piano) with compositions by Eres Holz, Henri Dutilleux, Isang Yun, and Franz Schubert (Sonata f minor in four mouvements, 1818). – Yun House Berlin. Opening of the exhibition “78 105 / Isang Yun 1917–1995 / 2022” by Oliver Siebeck
November 17, 2022
Sound prisms. An East Asian Evening: Ramina Abdulla-Zadé (soprano), Klaus Schöpp (flutes), Yoriko Ikeya (piano). Works by Isang Yun, Toshio Hosokawa, Conrado del Rosario, and Klaus Schöpp. – Universität der Künste Berlin, Joseph Joachim Saal [Joseph-Joachim Hall of the Berlin University of the Arts], Program
January 29, 2023
Yun House Berlin: Finissage of the Exhibition Oliver Siebeck (and drj art projects) with Typewriter Art from the letters “IsangYun”.
March 19, 2023
Live-Stream XI “Récréation: Yun + French Baroque”: Works by Jean-Marie Leclair & Isang Yun. Chien-Chun Hung (flute), Klaus Schöpp (flute), Tung-Han Hu (harpsichord), Adele Bitter (violoncello). – Yun House Berlin. – “Diversity in Harmony 1” with support of the Kulturamt Spandau, Fonds Dezentrale Kulturarbeit.
April 29, 2023
Floating Poetry, Meandering Mindscape. Yahon Chang (Taiwan) paints a canvas of 20 x 15 meters.
Music by Isang Yun (Espace I; Glissées; Shao Yang Yin; Nore): Adele Bitter (violoncello), Holger Groschopp (piano). – Elisabeth-Kirche, Invalidenstr. 3, 10115 Berlin. – An event of the Studio Yahon Chang and Hatje Cantz publishers. – Live-Stream: https://youtube.com/live/tJvee2G9RfY
April 30, 2023
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XII “Late Works: Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano” by Leoš Janáček (1914/21); Isang Yun (1991, unpublished original version); Robert Schumann (Sonata No. 3 in A minor, 1853): Egidius Streiff (violin), Markus Stange (piano). – “Diversity in Harmony 2” with support of the Kulturamt Spandau, Fonds Dezentrale Kulturarbeit.
After the Concert in the CHINESE ROOM, 6:30 p.m.: Vernissage Carola Bark “Line-Up” (see string quartet No. 32) + exhibition on Yun’s Violin Sonata (1991) (finissage: Sept. 30, 2023).
May 3 and 4, 2023
„Friedenskonzert der koreanischen Jugend“ – “Korean Youth Peace Concert”: Guest performance by the Children’s and Youth Orchestra of the Byulmuri School from Geumsan, Republic of Korea. May 3: Joseph-Joachim-Saal, UdK Berlin. May 4 : Visit of Isang Yun House Berlin (Isang Yun Peace House).
May 21, 2023
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XIII „Isang Yun, His Friends and Companions“. Gergely Booky (flute) and Adele Bitter (cello) with compositions by Luciano Berio (Sequenza I for flute, 1958), Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger (Alèh Stavì for cello, 2019), Tōru Takemitsu, Isang Yun (East-West-Minatures, 1994), and Hans Zender (Lo-Shu VI, excerpts, 1989).
November 17, 2023
Universität der Künste Berlin, Joseph Joachim Saal, Bundesallee: Yoshie Ueno (flute) und Tomoki Kitamura (play) play works by Isang Yun, Toshio Hosokawa und Noriko Miura (program-booklet).
Dezember 10, 2023
Yun House Berlin: Live Stream XIV “Matt Haimovitz: Peace Concert for Isang Yun”. Matt Haimovitz (violoncello) with works by J. S. Bach, Isang Yun (“Glissées”), Atar Arad, Layale Chaker and Juri Seo. Atar Arad is Israeli and Layale Chaker is Palestinian. Juri Seo is a Korean composer who teaches at Princeton University. – Matt Haimovitz, born in Israel in 1970, made a worldwide career early on, now lives in Canada and Texas, and is particularly interested in promoting young artists and developing unusual projects.
January 21, 2024
Yun House Berlin: Live Stream XV “Yun + Bach”. Wen-Sinn Yang (cello) with J. S. Bach, Suite IV in E-flat major BWV 1010, and Isang Yun, Seven Etudes for violoncello solo (1993). With the support of the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), Berlin.
February 11, 2024
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XVI “Isang Yun and the Oboe” – Piri (1971) & Inventions (1983) – Yeon-Hee Kwak (oboe), Ingo Goritzki (oboe). Ingo Goritzki is one of the dedicatees of Yun’s Inventions. With the support of the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), Berlin.
April 21, 2024
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XVII “Myths & Melodies” – Stefan Hempel (violin) and Daniel Seroussi (piano) play works by Olivier Messiaen, Ursula Mamlok, Karol Szymanowski, Anton Webern, and Isang Yun (“Gasa”). Diversity in Harmony 3: With the support of Kulturamt Spandau, Fonds Dezentrale Kulturarbeit, and of the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), Berlin.
May 20, 2024 (Whitsun Monday special concert)
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XVIII “Berg – Schoenberg – Helgeson – Yun” – Mingzhe Wang (clarinet),
Nikolaus Schlierf (viola), Manuel Laufer (piano). “Diversity in Harmony 4”. With special thanks to Mingzhe Wang.
May 24, 2024
Guest in the Kladower Forum: Lecture “Isang Yun – sein Weg, seine Musik” (Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer). Music: Nore (Adele Bitter, cello; Holger Groschopp, piano) and The Visitor to the Idyll (Xiangchen Ji, flute).
May 26, 2024
Yun House Berlin: Live-Stream XIX “Stone – Flower”. Piano Trios by Katia Tchemberdji, Isang Yun, Maurice Ravel. Artenius-Trio Berlin: Mika Yonezawa (violin), Kleif Carnarius (violoncello), Katia Tchemberdji (piano). “Diversity in Harmony 5”. With the support of Kulturamt Spandau, Fonds Dezentrale Kulturarbeit, and of the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), Berlin.
June 30, 2024
Yun-Haus Berlin: Live-Stream XX “Debussy – Yun – Joyce”: A harp solo by Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski opens the programme. Debussy’s Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1916) shows transparency and flexibility in Sivan Magen’s arrangement of the piano part, enhancing the joy of playing and lightness, the lucidity of this composition. The pizzicato in the second movement suggests a combination with Yun’s Glissées (1970). Both works contain and develop idioms which allow the inclusion of literature in the form of recitations from James Joyce’s last novel Finnegans Wake (1923/39). – Mischa Meyer (violoncello), Sivan Magen (harp), Oliver Siebeck (recitation). – This concert “Diversity in Harmony 6” is supported by the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung, Berlin. The series “Diversity in Harmony” is supported by Kulturamt Spandau, Fonds Dezentrale Kulturarbeit, GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten) and GEMA-Stiftung.
July 13 & 14, 2024
Diversity in Harmony 7 “Nacht Musique”: Performance of Yun’s Wind Octet (1994) at the Villa Elisabeth in Berlin-Mitte and at the Yun-Haus Berlin. Works by Markus Bongartz, Charlotte Seither and W. A. Mozart (“Nacht Musique” c minor, KV 388). Program. With the support from and thanks to Eva Rieger, the GVL, the GEMA Foundation and the Spandau Cultural Office, Decentralised Cultural Work Fund.
September 29, 2024
Diversity in Harmony 8 / Live Stream XXI at Yun House Berlin: “Songs without Words”: Rayeva – Yun – Hosokawa – Mozart: Stephan Mörth (clarinet), Byol Kang (violin), Clemens Linder (violin), Annemarie Moorcroft (viola), Mischa Meyer (violoncello). With the support from and thanks to the Stiftung GVL, GEMA-Stiftung and the the Spandau Cultural Office, Decentralised Cultural Work Fund.
Vernissage in the Chinese Room: Celia Caturelli, Meditaciones sobre los insectos (2020), ink on paper
October 13, 2024
Diversity in Harmony 9 / Live Stream XXII at the Yun-Haus Berlin: “Birdie – Bird / Vögelchen – Vogel”, Works by Jessie Montgomery (Peace, 2021), Isang Yun (Das Vögelchen, 1985), Franz Schubert (Fantasy C-Mayor for violin and piano D. 934, 1827), Robert Schumann (Eintritt, Verrufene Stelle. Vogel als Prophet aus den Waldszenen op. 82, 1848/49) and Isang Yun (Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1991, printed version): Yezu Woo (violin) and Tomoki Park (piano). With the support of and thanks to the GVL Foundation, the GEMA Foundation and the Spandau Cultural Office, Decentralised Cultural Work Fund.
November 7, 2017
Bremen, Kulturkirche St. Stephani: ‘Refuge’. Portrait concert Erwin Koch-Raphael. With the support of the Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation and the Waldemar Koch Foundation.
November 17, 2024