Isang Yun Competition


The ISANGYUN Competition is an international music competition, held annually in Tongyeong, South Korea. It commemorates Isang Yun, a Korean composer who was born in Tongyeong and later settled in Germany. The competition was established in 2003 as the Gyeongnam International Music Competition, and renamed to ISANGYUN Competition in 2008. It consists of a three-year "cycle", where each year, or "edition", consists of a different instrument in the rotation: cello, piano, and violin.

History

The competition has been organized by local governments and media companies in South Korea: Gyeongnam Province, the City of Tongyeong and MBC Gyeongnam. To remember Isang Yun, in 2003, the Governor of Gyeongnam Province requested the Tongyeong International Music Festival Foundation to plan and organize an international competition. The foundation, initially chaired by Seong-Yawng Park, created a general prospectus of an annual instrumental competition to nurture international young players between 15 and 29 years old. The event would be held in the city where Yun was born, which was Tongyeong, and the competition dates would be scheduled to include November 3, the date of Yun's death in 1995. However, there were exceptions in the schedule for the years 2003, 2004, and 2009.
The first Gyeongnam International Music Competition was held in 2003. The organizers originally wanted different instrument disciplines. The first discipline selected was cello, since Yun was a famed cellist, and he had composed his first concerto for cello in 1975–76. The organizers then selected violin and piano, because those were the top two disciplines to present the highest quantity of international competitions, and because Yun wrote many works involving those two instruments. They also found that after one cycle of three editions, the winners had an opportunity to collaborate and play in piano trios.
In order to attract an international audience, the organizers wanted the Gyeongnam International Music Competition to be recognized by the World Federation of International Music Competitions. In accordance with WFIMC statutes, the event had to show two editions of success, which it did in 2003 and 2004. The next year, the foundation submitted an application to the WFIMC. In 2006, following a vote held by the federation's general assembly in Geneva, the WFIMC accepted the Gyeongnam International Music Competition as a member competition, which made it the first music competition in South Korea to receive such an honor.
The organizers originally wanted to name the event after Isang Yun, however, the Yun family would not permit it; they were not convinced that the event was sustainable or comparable to other international competitions. The organizers continued to persuade the family, and after demonstrating the event's success, the Yun family eventually consented. The name change was ratified in 2008 by the WFIMC's general assembly in Tbilisi, Georgia. The WFIMC also stipulated that the name "Isang Yun" be titled in all capital letters.

Editions

As of 2011, the competition has completed nine editions and three cycles, rotating among disciplines of cello, violin and piano. The 2012 competition will begin the fourth cycle and tenth edition.
All competitions have been held at the Main Hall of the Tongyeong Arts Center.
YearDateDisciplineNotes
2003November 22–29Cello-
2004November 13–20Violin–
2005October 29 – November 5PianoIsang Yun Special Prize was added to list of awards.
2006October 28 – November 4CelloFor the first time of Korean competition history, the Competition was approved of full membership by WFIMC.
2007October 28 – November 4ViolinSeong-Yawng Park Special Prize was added to list of awards.
2008November 2–9PianoCompetition title was officially changed to 'ISANGYUN Competition'.
2009November 15–22Cello–
2010October 31 – November 7PianoPiano now comes after Cello in the rotation.
2011October 30 – November 6ViolinIt was the last competition to feature 5th Prize Winner.
2012October 27 – November 4CelloThe number of finalists were reduced from five to four,
while currency of cash prizes was changed from US Dollars to Korean Won.
2013November 2–10PianoFor the first time of competition history, the top 2 male prize winners was approved of duty exemption for military services by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
2014November 1–9ViolinIt was the first edition presented at the 'Tongyeong Concert Hall'; a newly constructed concert hall for classical music in Tongyeong. The number of prize winners were reduced from four to three.
2015Cello
2016Piano
2017October 28 – November 5Violin

Schedule

Preliminary Stage

As part of the WFIMC statutes, the competition is available to all nationalities.
Months before the event, there is a preliminary stage where the applicants submit a written application, and audio/video material showing his or her performance of a piece from a selected list of artists. A preliminary jury, one of which is a South Korea representative from the regular jury, reviews the applications, and selects "approximately 25 or more" people to participate in the event. The participants then submit their repertoires by mid-September.

First Stage

The first stage lasts two days. The participant plays three pieces with the following constraints:
A day is placed between the first and second stage. Competitors are notified on whether they advance in the competition.

Second Stage

The second stage lasts two days. The participant plays three pieces with the following constraints:
A day is placed between the second and final stage. Competitors are notified on who is selected as a finalist. In previous competitions there were five finalists, all considered "Prize Winners". Between 2012 and 2013, only four prize winners were awarded. Starting from 2014, there were only three.

Final Stage

The final stage lasts one day. The finalists choose from a list of concertos and play the pieces with a full orchestra. As with the other stages, there is a time limit, and the pieces cannot be from previous stages.
The day after the final stage is the Winners Concert.
The competition originally awarded cash prizes in the currency of US Dollars, but starting with the 2012 Edition, the cash prizes are awarded in Korean Won.

Prizes

The following are the prizes from the 2014 competition:
RankingTitleCash PrizeRemarks
1st1st Prize KRW 30,000,000granted by Governor of Gyeongnam Province
2nd2nd Prize KRW 20,000,000–
3rd3rd Prize KRW 10,000,000–
–Isang Yun Special Prize KRW 2,000,000awarded to the best performer of Isang Yun's work in the Second Stage
–Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize KRW 2,000,000awarded to the most promising Korean competitor of young age in the Second or Final Stage / granted by Kumho Asiana Group

Adjustments
The winners also have to do concerts and CD recordings, as well as return visits to perform at Tongyeong.

List of Jury Members

The judging for the first, second, and final stage consists of nine "jury" members, two of whom are from South Korea, the host country. Complying with WFIMC statutes, the seven other members must come from other countries. One of the two South Korean jurors participates in the preliminary stage.
YearChairmanPreliminary ChairmanOther Members
2003Siegfried PalmMyung-Wha Chung Young-Chang Cho, Lluis Claret, David Geringas, Walter Grimmer, Arto Noras, Leslie Parnas, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi
2004Saschko GawriloffMin Kim Ik-Hwan Bae, Vera Beths, James Buswell, Yao-Ji Lin, Igor Ozim, Jacqueline Ross, Akiko Tatsumi
2005Klaus HellwigDaejin Kim Tong-Il Han, Haruko Kasama, Roland Keller, Anna Malikova, Jerome Rose, Erik Tawaststjerna, Françoise Thinat
2006Wolfgang BoettcherMinja Hyun Yi-Bing Chu, Jean-Marie Gamard, Toshiaki Hayashi, Paul Katz, Ivan Monighetti, Duk-Sung Na, Uzi Wiesel
2007Gérard PouletNam Yun Kim Eui Myung Kim, Harada Koichiro, Sergey Kravchenko, Mihaela Martin, Itzhak Rashkovsky, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Lina Yu
2008Robert LevinSoo-Jung Shin Michel Beroff, Hung-Kuan Chen, Christopher Elton, Kaya Han, Michael Krist, Hiroko Nakamura, Boris Petrushansky
2009Myung-Wha Chung Myung-Wha ChungRichard Aaron, Karine Georgian, Ko Iwasaki, Jong Young Lee, Jens-Peter Maintz, Philippe Muller, Jian Wang, Hillel Zori
2010Daiuk Lee Daiuk LeeKyung-Sook Lee, Jerome Lowenthal, Siegfried Mauser, Pavel Nersessian, Matti Raekallio, Katsumi Ueda, Xu Zhong, Idith Zvi
2011Christoph PoppenKyung Sun Lee Ariadne Daskalakis, Eszter Haffner, Michael Ma, Jagdish Mistry, Ho Young Pi, Kyoko Takezawa, Vera Tsu Wei-Ling
2012Laurence LesserKangho Lee Suren Bagratuni, Andrzej Bauer, Dmitry Feygin, Rocco Filippini, Dong-Oo Lee, Wen-Sinn Yang, Young Sook Yun
2013Tong-Il Han Aviram ReichertBao Huiqiao, Akiko Ebi, Young-Lan Han, Thomas Hecht, Peter Paul Kainrath, Quentin Kim, Alexander Shtarkman
2014Young Uck Kim Young Uck KimShmuel Ashkenasi, Tanja Becker-Bender, Simon Blendis, Boris Garlitsky, Dong-Suk Kang, Takashi Shimizu, Wei-Dong Tong, Jean-Pierre Wallez
2015Raimund Trenkler
2016Daejin Kim
2017Michael Haefliger

Results

Prize Winners

The following table is a list of the finalists for each competition. Starting in 2012, there will only be four finalists.
Year1st prize2nd prize3rd prize4th prize5th prize
2003 Julie Albers Bong-Ihn Koh Boris Andrianov Na-Young Baek Silver Ainomae
2004 Bo-Kyoung Lee Erin Keefenot awarded Carla Leurs Lin Yue
2005 Victoria Kortchinskaia Da Sol Kim Norie Takahashi Alexandre Moutouzkine Young-Ah Tak
2006 Jung Ran Lee Bartosz Koziak
Narek Hakhnazaryan		not awarded Arnold Choi Massimiliano Martinelli
2007 Haik Kazazyan Solenne Paidassi Jae Young Kim Min Jeong Suh Andrey Baranov
2008 Sofya Gulyak Stanislav Khristenko Mariangela Vacatello Hong-Chun Youn Christopher Guzman
2009 Christine Rauh Jee-Hye Bae Matthew Zalkind Georgi Anichenko Sung-Chan Chang
2010 Yunjie Chen Alessandro Deljavan Elmar Gasanov Ju-Eun Lee
Sungpil Kim 		not awarded
2011 Yu-Chien Tseng Jinjoo Cho Young-Uk Kim Nigel Armstrong Ji-Yoon Lee
2012 Uladzimir Sinkevich Angela Jeanyoung Park
Alexey Zhilin		not awarded Jonathan Dormand-
2013 Hong-gi Kim Ji Won Han Jeung Beum Sohn So Hyang In -
2014 Luke Hsu Minkyung Sul Wonhee Bae --
2015 Ella van Poucke Mun-Puo Lee James Jeonghwan Kim --
2016 Hans H. Suh Gyu-Tae Ha Minsoo Hong
Julia Kociuban		--
2017 Ji Won Song Nancy Zhou Nigel Armstrong--

Isang Yun Special Prize

This award is given to the best performer of Isang Yun's piece during the second stage. It was originally named "Special Prize" in 2006, but Yun's name was added in 2007 to distinguish between the two special prizes.
YearWinner
2005 Sofya Gulyak
Yorck-Hardy Rittner
2006 Jung Ran Lee
2007 Haik Kazazyan
2008 Stanislav Khristenko
2009 Christine Rauh
2010 Akihito Okuda
2011 Yu-Chien Tseng
2012 Uladzimir Sinkevich
2013not awarded
2014 Luke Hsu
2015 Woohyung Suh
2016 Hans H. Suh
2017 Nigel Armstrong

Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize

Starting in 2007, the Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize is given to the most promising young Korean performer from the second and final stages. It is sponsored by the Kumho Asiana Group.
YearWinner
2007Jae Young Kim
2008Hong-Chun Youn
2009Yoon-Hye Chung
2010Hong-Gi Kim
2011Eun Ae Koh
2012Angela Jeanyoung Park
2013Hong-gi Kim
2014Gyehee Kim
2015James Jeonghwan Kim
2016Gyu-Tae Ha
2017Ji Won Song