Best South and North Korean composers?

The Korean peninsula has a long and rich music history. Formerly, it was dominated by traditional Korean music, which is vastly different from Western music, including its instruments and scales, and much of it is closely related to traditional Chinese and Japanese music. However, with the growing influence of Western culture and South Korea's rapid economic development in recent decades, Western music, including classical music, has made major inroads. In fact, relative to its size and despite its late start, South Korea has produced a substantial number of world-class performers and several world-class composers. This is widely attributed to the great passion and hard work that is characteristic of Koreans, the same passion and hard work that has transformed a country with almost no natural resources and formerly Asia's poorest nation into a world economic powerhouse in the span of just a few decades.

Eak-tai Ahn

Eak-tai Ahn (1906—1965) is best known for creating the music for South Korea's national anthem Aegukga [Patriotic Song] (1935). [The name is the same as the national anthem for North Korea, but the music and words are different.] Born into a wealthy family in what is now North Korea, he began playing the violin and trumpet at at early age. He continued his music education in Japan, the U. S. and then Europe, where he conducted several major orchestras before returning to live in South Korea. Also popular is his Symphonic Fantasia Korea for orchestra and chorus.

Jae-Myung Hyun

Jae-Myung Hyun (1902—1960) is highly regarded in South Korea's as the composer of the country's first Western-style opera as for his work as a conductor and in academia. He became familiar with Western music as a child and went to the U.S. to study after graduation from a Korean high school. Completed in 1948 and first performed in 1950 with Hyun conducting, Chunhyang-jeon is based on one of Korea's best known love stories and folk tales. This was followed by a second opera, Prince Hodong, in 1958. Hyun is also known for his short songs for guitar, such as A Gentle Breeze.

I Sang Yun

I Sang Yun (1917—1995) was a South Korean-born composer who spent the latter part of his life composing and teaching in Germany. He was also active in trying to promote the reunification of the Korean peninsula. Yun began composing at age 14 and subsequently went to Japan to study. He was very prolific, publishing more than one hundred works, including four operas, 22 symphonies and other orchestral works, eleven concerti, eleven vocal and choral works, etc. Illustrative of his unique style, which could be described as avant-garde with some Korean influence, are his Symphony No.1 (1983) and his Violin Concerto No. 3 (1992).

Won-gyun Kim

Won-gyun Kim (1917—2002) is North Korea's most celebrated composer. He wrote the music for that country's national anthem, also called Aegukka (1947). Also well known is his The Song of General Kim Il-sung (1946), a marching song praising the founder of the current dictatorial dynasty, the earliest known work of art mentioning Kim and the beginning of his personality cult. It has replaced Aegukka as the most important song played in public gatherings in the country. The country's leading music institution, the Pyongyang Conservatory, was renamed the Kim Won-gyun Conservatory in his honor in 2006.

Jeajoon Ryu

Jeajoon Ryu, born 1970, studied composition at Seoul National University College of Music and then with Krzysztof Penderecki at Kraków Conservatory in Poland. Unlike so much music written in recent decades, his compositions sound much like genuine classical music. Examples include his Violin Concerto (2013) and his more recent Quintetto per clarinetto e Quartetto d'archi, a four movement work for a clarinet and four strings (2015).

Unsuk Chin

Unsuk Chin is one of South Korea's most creative and prolific contemporary composers and also one of its very few outstanding female composers. Born in Seoul in 1961, she began to teach herself piano and music theory at an early age and subsequently studied composition at prestigious Seoul National University. She moved to Europe in 1985 and has lived in Berlin since 1988. Her style might best be described as lively and lyrical but diverse. Among her most highly acclaimed works are her 2002 Violin Concerto and her first opera Alice in Wonderland (2007).

________

1. Composers are listed following the Western convention of placing the first name first.

2. Composers are not listed in any particular order.

3. This list includes both South and North Korean composers as well as composers who were born in the Korean peninsula but emigrated to another country.