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Tongyeong International Music Festival
Tongyeong International Music Festival (Korean: 통영국제음악제), abbreviated TIMF, is an annual music festival held in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Considering the classification between ethnic and artistic categories, TIMF may be classified into one of Korea's leading arts and music festivals which is specialized in western music, i.e. with a variety of style and genre, such as contemporary, early(baroque), classical, romantic, traditional, symphonic, chamber or ensemble, operatic or music theater. In spite of its various appetite for genre, TIMF is usually known as being strong in contemporary program of western style music.[1] The artistic director (from 2022 onwards) is the composer Unsuk Chin.[2] HistoryThe origin of this festival results from the spirit to commemorate Isang Yun (윤이상; 1917–1995), a world-renowned composer who was born in Sancheong near Tongyeong and lived the latter part of life in Berlin, Germany.[3] Yun settled down in Tongyeong and took the first job of teaching at high schools. At 39, Yun moved to Europe to study at Berlin University of the Arts, Germany. As a full-time professor, he educated many young artists whether they are composers or players, and many of his disciples were Koreans or from Korea. Isang Yun's Korean disciples were the ones that led TIMF project to be feasible. They first sought for sponsorship from the municipal government in order to present an introductory concert titled as 'Night of Isang Yun's Music'. This singular concert was held in 1999 and found itself to be successful thanks to hails of so many Korean artists. The disciples were encouraged by this success, and they tried to develop it into Tongyeong Contemporary Music Festival. This festival is now recognized as an archetype of TIMF's current format, and on its threshold, it was a reformatory challenge to extend a singular concert to a form of a three-days festival. This festival is very similar to 'the present' TIMF in the following features. a. It was organized in a perfect form of a festival, as being held for three consecutive days. b. Each different concert presented each different content in program, style and instrumentation. c. Consistency was met in content programming, as the festival set its own theme. 2 years of experiments in the form of festival made it clear that the content of western music could be cooperatively coexistent with Tongyeong's environments. The opinions arose among the populace that the festival should be developed into an international format. But the initiators did not make haste. Their next step was to establish an independent entity of a foundation. This action was necessary because the activity of hosting a festival should be politically neutral and cannot be disturbed by politicians or governments. The initiators formed the Board of Directors being helped by the provincial and the municipal governments, and the Board determined the initiative proposals to constitute a foundation and elect Seong-Yawng Park (1932–2005) as the first Chairman of TIMF Foundation. The Foundation was established and registered in February 2002. TIMF 2002, the first edition of a new 'international' format, was presented by this new legal entity through organizational forces caused by the Board, the Managing Committee and the Administration Office. Based upon the past 2 years' experiences, the programmers of the Secretariat constituted Tongyeong International Music Festival 2002, for 8 consecutive days in March. The programmers kept deciding a new theme for each year. The theme was always derived from a subtitle of Isang Yun's works. Although there always arose a need to construct a new concert hall, Tongyeong Arts Center with Main Hall (880 seats) and Small Hall (290 seats), was always the official venue. The following is the prospectus of Tongyeong International Music Festival since its first edition up to now. Editions
ProgramsThe uniqueness in contemporary programming results from its spiritual motto that encourages programmers to commemorate and inherit creative minds of Isang Yun, a Korean composer born in Tongyeong. As Isang Yun was helped and discovered by European sponsors when in the past he endeavored to research abroad, TIMF finds it as an organizational mission to discover many other young composers who may succeed to Isang Yun's legacy. From this reason, TIMF's programmers do make it usual commission new works to young composers with brilliant creativity. Since Asia is still regarded upon as the periphery of music society, TIMF's discoveries are mainly focused on Asian composers. The following is the selected list of Asian composers whom TIMF has proudly found over the last decade by setting their own repertoire on stage. Toru Takemitsu (Japan; 1930~1996) Let alone Asian composers, TIMF has also presented many outstanding contemporary works written by 20th century's composers. If the concept 'contemporary' may be defined as a reformative attempt towards new forms, a variety of works and composers can be introduced. TIMF has set up its own programming policy to honor contemporary era by finding the beauty of the works and introducing it to new and young audiences. The following is the result of the efforts made to do the finding. Leoš Janáček (Czech; 1854~1928) ArtistsAs well as composers, TIMF has also presented outstanding musicians and performers. Its programming policy is concentratively set on presenting 2 categories of classical musicians; famed top stars or gifted top rookies. For this reason, TIMF's concert model is structured in a symmetrical compatibility between experimental performances to introduce young players and big-scale projects run by globally recognized orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists or operatic productions. The following shows the artists staged in TIMF's history complying with these 2 categories. Young players introducedBartosz Koziak, Cello (2009) Globally recognized performing artistsNorthern Sinfonia with Thomas Zehetmair, Conducting & Violin (2009) Vision: artistic directorOn the verge of opening TIMF 2009, the Festival embraced a revolutionary brand-new phase of its history. TIMF Foundation, the managing body of the Festival and other related business branches, announced that TIMF would appoint a new artistic director, the position that had been left unfilled since the birth of the Festival. The inaugural artistic director was Alexander Liebreich, principal conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, followed by the German cultural manager Florian Riem, and (from 2022 onwards), the composer Unsuk Chin. See also References
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