Back

2003-2023: The ISANGYUN Competition is celebrating its 20th Anniversary

Competitions
Insights

Over the years, Tongyeong has developed greatly from a sleepy seaside town to a new cultural Mecca in South Korea

Considering repertoire for an international music competition, the work of Isang Yun does not appear to be a natural choice like the commonly performed concertos of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov. Consequently, the reason behind the establishment of the ISANGYUN Competition was not to create a showcase of sensational, technically demanding and popular pieces, while Isang Yun would not have liked the idea of associating his music with the sheer nature of a competition in the first place. Instead, when the first “Gyeongnam international Music Competition”, the predecessor of the ISANGYUN, opened its first round at Tongyeong Citizen´s Art Center on November 22, 2003, the intention of the organisers was to ensure that young musicians would actually study and perform the music of Isang Yun; to discover young, promising artists and support their international careers (a matter of the heart for Yun during much of his life); and to lay the foundations for a major international event in Yun´s hometown, Tongyeong.

Back in 2003, Tongyeong was a very different place from today. The highway to Jinju was still under construction; likewise the bridges connecting Geoje to Busan, which opened only 7 years later. Travel to the city took substantially longer than today, and bringing artists- especially international artists- to town, was a major undertaking. Earlier in the year, Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic had performed at the Tongyeong intl. Music Festival: a major achievement for the young foundation under its director Sngkn Kim and chairman Seong-Yawng Park of Kumho Asiana.

Access was one handicap- accommodation and hospitality another one. Catering mostly to Korean families, the venerable Marina Resort was the only choice besides small pensions and business hotels; western restaurants were practically non existant. Therefore, it seems rather extraordinary that the 2003 Gyeongnam international Music Competition took place the way it did: with an all-star jury that included Siegfried Palm, Myung Wha Chung, and Arto Noras; and with a superb level among the participants that included former ARD winner Julie Albers and biologist-cellist Bong-Ihn Koh, who won second prize with the Cello Concerto by Isang Yun. 
 

Arto Noras

My recollection of the first Isangyun Cello Competition in 2003 is very flimsy. But as a passionate sailor I liked greatly the competition venue, the marine city of Tongyeong. ln addition I remember the yacht cruise organized for the Jury by the President of Kumho company. The sea was very turbulent and as a seamen I had the possibility to help the captain of the boat during the docking manoeuvres. 
Considering the level of this first competition, I have in my mind no negative memories. The organization certainly was of highest level - such as always in Korea.

Arto Noras, Juror of the First ISANGYUN Competition in 2003
 

Tongyeong may have been unlikely place for a major international competition, but the main stakeholders (Gyeongnam Province, thus the name; Tongyeong City; and MBC Television) worked hard to develop the competition further. Following two successful editions in 2003 and 2004, the foundation applied for membership in the World Federation of international Music Competitions in Geneva (WFIMC) and became their first Korean member in 2006. Besides the cello discipline, which was considered imperative since Isang Yun himself was a cellist, the competition would now offer cello, violin and piano on an annual rotation. Further categories were considered over the years, but cello, violin and piano seemed to provide the best balance between relevance, popularity and available repertoire.

To give greater emphasis on the name Isang Yun, the competition was renamed ISANGYUN Competition in 2008 with the consent of the Yun family. A further milestone contributing greatly to the competition´s popularity was an announcement in 2013:  the possibility of duty exemption for military services from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, offered for male winners of the top two prizes that held Korean nationality.
With the opening of the new Tongyeong Concert Hall in 2014, the ISANGYUN Competition finally had the world-class venue it deserved. Along with the international setup of the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra during the Final rounds (before it had been the Changwon Philharmonic), the competition could now offer a world-class venue, reknown juries of the highest caliber, and rewards and engagements that still are unparalleled in Korea.
 

Over the years, countless major artists joined its juries, some because of their friendship with the composer or their interest in Yun´s music, others that were simply curious about this rapidly growing Korean institution. In the cello category, Paul Katz, Wolfgang Boettcher, Philippe Muller, Valentin Erben, and Raimund Trenkler stood out; Violin saw Igor Ozim, Mihaela Martin, Shmuel Ashkenazy, Michael Haefliger, Ida Kavafian and NamYun Kim; and Piano included Michel Béroff, Hiroko Nakamura, Robert Levin and Daejin Kim.

Among the ISANGYUN Competition´s laureates to remember in the cello category were Christine Rauh (2009), Ella van Poucke (2015), Christine Lee (2018) and Jaemin Han (2022, First Prize with the Yun Cello Concerto). Among the violinists, notable laureates are Erin Keefe (2004), Yu-Chien Tseng and Jinjoo Cho (2011), Jiwon Song and Nancy Zhou (2017). Finally, the piano category saw Da Sol Kim (2005), Sofya Gulyak (2008), Hong-gi Kim (2013), Minsoo Hong (2016) and Yunchan Lim (2019). 

unchain

In fact, Yunchan Lim may be the best example for the outstanding role the ISANGYUN Competition has played for young performers, and especially for Korean performers: following their success in Tongyeong, these artists have gone on to win some of the most prestigious contests in the world, like the Van Cliburn intl. Piano Competition, the Queen Elisabeth, Geneva, or the Tchaikovsky Competition.

The opening of Tongyeong Concert Hall in 2014 also saw the General Assembly of the World Federation of International Music Competitions- a conference that had only once been held in Asia before. Enthusiastic reactions of countless competition directors and artists from around the world once again substantiated the standing and reputation of the ISANGYUN Competition: as one of the major such events not only in Korea, but also in Asia and around the world.

©WFIMC 2023/FR