WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH: UNSUK CHIN
I know that all throughout Women's History Month we've been covering those most historical women in music history, those who have pioneered the field and laid down the groundwork for generations to come. Today, I would like to switch things up a bit and talk about an astounding and award-winning contemporary female composer that is a part of the future generations set forth by those we have covered already. I'll be covering the musical career of Unsuk Chin.
Early Life and Growing Up
Chin was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1961 to a Christian household, her father had even been a Presbyterian minister at the time. In said Christian household, Chin, along with her three other siblings, were forced to abide by strict religious rules and social ranks. Because of this, according to Chin herself, there existed a culture at home where her parents weren't interested in what she was doing, even to the point of not knowing what classes she was taking. Thus, her pursuit of music was one that was completely voluntary and of her own volition. At an early age, she discovered a love for piano and would play for religious services while self-teaching that instrument itself as well as music theory.
Her love of music led her to discovering music off of the radio, specifically Western music such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. Chin had sought to continue a career in music, but was met with a large hurdle where she failed her university entrance exams twice. Her failures can be attributed to her lack of knowledge in how to present herself and the behaviors that would make her a good candidate, mostly due to the home culture she had grown up in. Alas, she would go onto the study music composition at Seoul National University under the tutelage of composer Sukhi Kang, who is regarded as the master of contemporary Korean music.
Professional Studies
Despite having spent her entire life up to this point in South Korea, Chin was encouraged to move to Germany to continue her studies. Kang's mentors had reasoned that it was difficult for women to carve out a successful in Korea as it was regarded as a dictatorship at the time, though around the 1980s, restrictions on air travel lightened up and Chin was encouraged to take advantage of that. Taking up that sound advice and using an academic grant she earned, she would make her way to Hamburg, Germany to study under György Ligeti, described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the 20th century". During her studies with him, she realized that tough love was his way to teaching and he was one to keep things real. He would make comments regarding Chin's first compositions, stating that they were not completely hers, which was true to a certain extend as she had help from some of her contemporaries at the time. This caused her to give up composing for some time, though Ligeti made it clear to her that he always believed that she was very gifted.
Professional Career and Awards
Her first profession gig was in 1989 when she worked as a freelance composer at an electronic music studio of the Technical University of Berlin. There, she would produce many of her first pieces, and arguably the piece that would help her breakthrough the scene: Acrostic Wordplay. That piece alone would be performed in various countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She would continue to collaborate with multiple ensembles and orchestras, consistently gaining notoriety and it would eventually lead her to a partnership with Boosey & Hawkes, known to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Her works would then continue to featured by some of the most famous orchestras in the world such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. She would also establish a strong connection to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for 11 years and along with the composer-in-residence Myung-Whun Chung, would found the Ars Nova Series for contemporary music. That initiative would present many Korean premieres of contemporary music. Chin also took a jab at opera scores, producing an operatic adaptation of Alice in Wonderland based on the novels in 2007 alongside Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang.
Chin would be recognized for many of her works, receiving a plethora of awards during her musical career. Some notable awards include the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for her Violin Concerto in 2004, the Kyung-Ahm Prize in 2007 and most recently the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2021. Of note, her Cello Concerto (2009) was regarded at the "11th greatest work of art music since 200" by The Guardian.
She is currently still very much involved in the music industry and is currently overseeing the Ars Nova Series of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra as well as serving as the artistic director of the Music of Today series at the London Philharmonia Orchestra since 2011.
Feel free to check out some of her award wining works!