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Unsuk Chin

Unsuk Chin

Born: 14th July 1961, Seoul, South Korea

Nationality: South Korean

Unsuk Chin is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was a self-taught pianist from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as well as with György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

The recipient of numerous awards, she won the 2004 Grawemeyer Award for her Violin Concerto No. 1, the 2010 Music Composition Prize of the Prince Pierre Foundation for the ensemble piece Gougalōn and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2024. In 2019, writers of The Guardian ranked her Cello Concerto (2009) the 11th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Andrew Clements describing it as "perhaps the most original and entertainingly disconcerting of all of [her concertos], cast in four brilliant movements that never quite conform to type".

Further Reading: Chin, U

  • Contemporary Music Round-Up - Spring 2026

    5th May 2026by Ben Hogwood

    In our latest round-up of contemporary music releases, Ben celebrates Michael Finnissy's eightieth birthday and explores albums devoted to the music of Huw Watkins, Unsuk Chin, John Casken, Augusta Read Thomas and Morton Feldman.

  • Anne-Sophie Mutter on East Meets West

    30th Mar 2026by James Longstaffe

    To celebrate the launch of her new series on Alpha Classics, ASM Forte Forward, the violinist talks about her long history of commissioning and performing new works by composers including John Williams, Witold Lutosławski, Unsuk Chin, and Aftab Darvishi.

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