Musicians to Honor Isang Yun at Tongyeong
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Premier world musicians will take center stage at Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province ― ``the Naples of Korea'' ― to commemorate the late Korean-German composer Isang Yun (1917-1995).
The annual Tongyeong International Music Festival (TIMF) was launched in 1999 as a one-night concert paying homage to Yun. He is recognized as creating ``one of the very important postwar contemporary works,'' according to conductor Vladimir Jurowski, who recently visited Seoul with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yun gained international prominence when he was identified with the German avant-garde movement in the 1960s. But his life took an unexpected turn when he and other Korean artists/intellectuals residing in Berlin were charged with treason in the 1969 ``East Berlin spy incident.'' A show trial sentenced him to life imprisonment but he was released after international protests led by maestros such as Igor Stravinsky and Herbert von Karajan.
He returned to Berlin and became a German citizen, never to return to his homeland. Yun died in 1995 and was interred in a grave of honor bestowed upon him by the Berlin City Senate.
Paying homage to Yun, TIMF grew to become a biannual music festival, attracting musicians from near and far every spring and fall. The 2008 spring edition of TIMF is titled ``Freiheit'' (Freedom) after Yun's second concerto ``Den Opfern der Freheit'' (Devotion to Freedom). It will take place Friday through March. 26 at the picturesque southern port city of Tongyeong. Music will resound all day ― and night ― at the beautiful seaside locale.
The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra will open the festival at 7:30 p.m., Friday at the Main Hall of the Tongyeong Citizen's Center. Gianandrea Noseda will lead the British ensemble for Yun's ``Colloides Sonores'' and Beethoven's Syphony No. 7. Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, one of the most sought-after virtuosos on the international scene, will join the orchestra for Sibelius' Violin Concerto.
At 10 p.m. in the Small Hall of the same venue, flutists Claude Lefebvre and Nah Sang-ah will give a duo performance of Messiaen's ``Le Merle Noir'' and Yun's ``Inventionen fur Zwei Floten.''
At the Main Hall, 9 p.m., Saturday, the Jacque Loussier Trio will deliver some jazzy numbers. The 72-year-old iconic French pianist has been at the forefront of jazzing up classical music, and will offer a relaxing evening with a drummer and double bassist.
Loussier's group, originally called ``the Play Bach Trio,'' was formed in 1959 with bassist Pierre Michelot and percussionist Christian Garros. The trio interpreted Bach pieces and released numerous albums and toured extensively.
At the same venue, 7:30 p.m., March 24, Guillaume Bourgogne will conduct the Ensemble TIMF for Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII with Korea's Paik Hae-sun as the soloist. The virtuoso pianist will also give a recital the following evening at the Small Hall. Another artist not to miss is violinist John Holloway, who will perform at 10 p.m., March 24.
On the last day of the festival, March 26, Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan will appear at the Small Hall at 5 p.m. The 20-year-old is a winner of the 2006 Kyeongnam International Music Competition and will present pieces by Rachmaninoff and Yun among others. His mother Gayane will accompany him on piano. Later in the evening, the KNUA String Ensemble will close the festival with a program of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Yun.
Seoul has since taken measures to recover the composer's honor, and last September, the Isang Yun Festival simultaneously took place in Seoul, Pyongyang and Berlin. His widow I Soo-ja returned to Korea for the first time 40 years for the occasion.
Since the TIMF Foundation was launched in 2002, the festival has been held every March. Inspired by advanced examples such as the Salzburg Festival in Austria and the Luzern Festival in Switzerland, TIMF aims to establish itself as a new model for international music events and breeding ground for young talent.
In a recent press meeting, Lee Hong-koo, chairman of the TIMF Foundation, announced plans to build a landmark performing arts complex in Tongyeong. ``We will contact some renowned architects including Frank Gehry (the designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles),'' he said.
The Foundation will run a two-night package program combining concerts and tours. For more information, call (055) 642-8662 or visit www.timf.org (English and Korea).