Isang Yun’s Discordant Harmony Fills Tongyeong

They say a true artist transcends one's personal struggles and creates something new: ``A composer cannot view the world in which he lives with indifference. Human suffering, oppression, injustice... all that comes to me in my thoughts. Where there is pain, where there is injustice, I want to have a say in it through my music,'' the late composer Isang Yun (1917-1995) was quoted as saying in 1983.

Born in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, during the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), Yun was recognized in his youth for partaking in the resistance movement against colonial rule. After studying music in Korea and Japan, he made his way to Europe in the 1950s.

In Berlin, Yun became part of the international avant-garde and gained international prominence with his orchestral piece ``Reak'' at the 1966 Donaueschingen Festival.

The composer's life, however, took an unexpected turn in 1967 when he became implicated in a political scandal called the East Berlin spy incident. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released two years later following international protests by Herbert von Karajan and other esteemed musicians. Exiled from his home country, he became a German citizen.

Tongyeong: Bridging East, West

Yun's works are deeply rooted in the European tradition, but they also embody the vibrant tone of Korean traditional music. ``His composing manner blends Eastern and Western elements into a unique personal style, into the art of gliding transition in the spirit of Tao,'' said the Isang Yun Peace Foundation.

In the small port city of Tongyeong, hometown of the late composer, camellias take full bloom and the warm spring breeze lingers by. The 9th Tongyeong International Music Festival (TIMF) will be held from March 27 to April 2, with 17 main performances commemorating Yun and his defiant originality.

This year's theme, ``East and West,'' was inspired by his 1994 piece, ``Ost-West-Miniaturen'' (East-West Duet) for oboe and cello. Indeed, the Korean-German musician's scenic hometown will tide over with his surging, discordant harmonies as premier musicians gather from the both sides of Earth's hemisphere.

Last year, hot artists like Hilary Hahn visited. This year, *maestrolicious* conductor Alexander Liebreich, TIMF's artistic director-to be, will be there... and so will I :)

``TIMF will become an important gateway for artists of the East and West,'' TIMF's future artistic director Alexander Liebreich was quoted as saying in an interview with Yonhap News. The dashing 41-year-old conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra will lead TIMF for three years beginning 2011. ``As a German, it is a great honor and new adventure to assume the artistic directorship of TIMF,'' he said.

Read more about the festival here. You can also visit the festival's Web site, http://www.timf.org/.