Works performed by Earplay:

Espace I

The work of composer Isang Yun (1917-1995) rests upon the flexible, vibrant tone of his native country's traditional music and includes more than a hundred works, among them four operas and a number of instrumental concertos. Isang Yun was born on September 17, 1917 near the southeastern seaport Tongyông, at a time when the Korean peninsula was under Japanese occupation. Yun took part in the resistence against Japan, and in 1943 he was imprisoned and tortured. After receiving the Seoul City Culture Award in 1955, he was able to study in Paris and Berlin from 1956 to 1959. While in Germany, Yun established contact with and became a part of the international musical avant-garde. In 1967 Yun was abducted form Berlin to Seoul by the Korean secret police and was tortured and charged with high treason. In a political show trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, but released in 1969 after international protests. In 1971 he became a German citizen.