The South Korean composer Unsuk Chin won the Fronteras del Conocimiento en Música y Opera award

In its 18th year, the Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en Música y Opera Award has been awarded to a South Korean composer Unsuk Chin (Seoul, 1961) develop a badge “own voice” with a wide global impact in contemporary music, he is distinguished by his innovation “instrumental virtuosity” as one “stunning imagination” who is able to “represent symbolic universes of great expressive power”, in the words of the lawyer.

Chin’s “singular technique” – he emphasizes the act of the phallus – “creates patterns in constant transformation where color and texture take on the original paper”, developing “Unmistakable aesthetics in the field of current music.’ In particular, the idea stands out because of Chin’s musical emphasis he was inspired by “philosophical and scientific concepts” and “subsisted on surrealist literature and visual arts”, as a reflection of your works Alice in Wonderland y Dear hiddenness of the moon.

Enter the prolific catalog, jurado highlights his concertos for solo instruments and his operasin which he “extends the use of the voice with extended techniques, fragmented writing and sudden contrasts between lyric and spoken text”, creating “highly expressive and plastic” vocal music that allows for a “kaleidoscopic construction of atmospheres”.

La obra de Chin, que based in Berlin“she is defined by her sonic sophistication and her masterful ability to turn sound into a game of illusions and metamorphoses, making her one of the great innovators in the field of contemporary music”, whose scores “feature in the theaters of the world’s most distinguished performers and orchestras”.

“She’s a great orchestral player with a wide catalog that ranges from chamber music to orchestral works to opera. She cares a lot about the technical side of her music, so to speak The music is written flawlesslyit has a great office and a unique sonic imagination,” says composer and Cathedratica de Composición at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Gabriela Ortiz, who served as jurado president.

“He is an absolute reference in the field of contemporary music and without a doubt he is one of the artists who most clearly sticks to music that is recognized as it is played,” says Víctor García de Gomar, artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona. y secretary jurado. “The music comes from a dream world full of fantasy and is characterized by very special timbres and colors, with extremely rich and sumptuous orchestras, in which different plans are mixed in a very original way,” he adds.

As reported Santiago Serrateorchestra director, professor of concert and conducting technique at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía and member of the jury, “one of the keys to his success was lograr supporting some of the world’s best orchestral conductors’especially de Simon Rattlethroughout his time at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic and in which the record company dedicated an album to his cases of 20 years of collaboration (2005-2022), and Kent Nagano. He most recently directed Chin’s work about 50 times during his trip.

Además, Nagano, que en septiembre asumirá los cargos de director titular de la Orquesta Nacional de España (ONE) y director artístico de la Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE), le encargó la composición de sus dos óperas cuando dirigía los teatros de ópera de Múnich (2007) y Hamburgo (2025).

La niña autodidacta

La artista aprendió a tocar el piano y a componer de forma autodidacta con el piano que su padre, un sacerdote presbiteriano, compró para la iglesia en la que predicaba. “Mi padre sabía leer partituras, y me enseñó un poco, pero básicamente aprendí de forma autodidacta hasta que empecé la universidad”, afirma la galardonada en una entrevista poco después de conocer la concesión del premio.

“De niña, mi sueño era convertirme en pianista –aún hoy tocar es una de mis pasiones–, pero mi familia, como la mayoría de las familias de Corea del Sur en los sesenta, era bastante pobre y no tenía los medios para pagarme lecciones de piano”, afirma Chin.

Con 12 años, su profesor de música del instituto, que era compositor, le sugirió que se decantara por la composición. “En ese momento no tenía ni idea de lo que suponía, pero me dije que sería mucho más barato que ser pianista”, bromea. La artista recuerda el limitado acceso a la música en esa Corea de posguerra, en la que era muy difícil conseguir partituras o vinilos. A pesar de tener que compaginar sus estudios secundarios con un trabajo para aportar dinero a su familia, Chin consiguió, tras ser rechazada en dos ocasiones, entrar en la Universidad Nacional de Seúl: “Tuve mucha suerte; a la tercera me aceptaron porque no había suficientes candidatos”.

La compositora rememora su etapa universitaria en Corea del Sur como un tiempo muy difícil, pero a la vez enriquecedor: “Estábamos bajo una dictadura militar y teníamos problemas políticos muy graves. Sin embargo, descubrí mucha música diferente cuando estudiaba allí. En mi segundo año, el compositor coreano Sukhi Kang regresó de Europa a impartir clases, y trajo consigo mucha información sobre la música contemporánea europea. Yo me convertí en su alumna número uno”. Las influencias que conoció gracias a Kang la impulsaron a proseguir su carrera como compositora en Europa.

Alumna de Ligeti

Gracias a una beca del DAAD (Servicio alemán de intercambio académico) pudo estudiar en Alemania y le envió una carta a György Ligeti para convertirse en su alumna. El célebre compositor le inculcó la autoexigencia y excelencia para desarrollar una voz musical propia, de aspiración universal y cosmopolita, en la que lo que importa es la partitura, desligada de identidades nacionales y cualquier otro elemento externo a la música misma.

when composing Who admits entering into a type of trance that begins at the first note and ends at the last, without interruption. He knows that he must limit his interpretations in his recitals for soloists, bearing in mind that, just as he tries his best in composing, he expects great effort from the musicians: “I am very demanding of my boyfriend and I expect the same attitude from some actors because they hate me so much.. This requirement makes the work part of Ligeti’s teaching, who never hesitates to be brutally strict when criticizing his own work and experience.

She sometimes recognized that she “loved my heart” while studying with Ligeti. “He studied for three years and his lessons were very difficult. The quiz was not his fault. He did not have an easy life as a survivor of the Second World War and as part of his family was murdered by the Nazis. As a composer he had a very personal vision and I asked him that we understand that we have developed this personal vision better in our time, because every day I learn about music and learn better, I reflect on my whole life”, the winner.