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Contemporary Korean

CHIN, Unsuk

Photo of Unsuk Chin
Image courtesy of LA Phil

Born in Seoul, July 14, 1961

  • Born in South Korea, Unsuk (“OON-sook”) Chin has lived in Berlin since 1988.
    • In 1985, Chin moved to Europe and studied with György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.
  • No stranger to crossing boundaries between musical genres, Chin’s music often incorporates electric-acoustic elements.
  • Chin currently serves as Artistic Director of Tongyeong International Festival in South Korea and Weiwuying International Music Festival in Taiwan.1

“My music is a reflection of my dreams. I try to render into music the visions of immense light and of an incredible magnificence of colours that I see in all my dreams, a play of light and colours floating through the room and at the same time forming a fluid sound sculpture. Its beauty is very abstract and remote, but it is for these very qualities that it addresses the emotions and can communicate joy and warmth.”

Unsuk Chin

Learn More
Biography via Boosey & Hawkes

Sources

  1. “Unsuk Chin: Biography,” Boosey & Hawkes, accessed April 22, 2026, https://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=2754&ttype=BIOGRAPHY.

Pieces