Korean composer Unsuk Chin wins Grand Prize at Daewon Music Awards

Germany-based Korean composer Unsuk Chin has won the Grand Prize at the 14th Daewon Music Awards, taking home $72,000 and cementing her standing as the most internationally decorated Korean classical composer since Isang Yun.

The Daewon Culture Foundation, which created the awards in 2006 to recognize outstanding musical achievement, also honored pianist Sunwoo Yekwon and violinist Kim Seo-hyun — three artists whose careers trace the growing global reach of Korean classical music.

The Daewon Culture Foundation announced Chin as the top honoree of the 14th edition of the awards, according to The Korea Times. The foundation described her as the most internationally acclaimed Korean composer since Isang Yun, a recognition built through decades of sustained work at the highest levels of global contemporary music.

Chin's career has produced an extensive string of international prizes: the Grawemeyer Award (2004), the Arnold Schoenberg Prize (2005), the Prince Pierre of Monaco Composition Prize (2010), the Wihuri Sibelius Prize (2017), the Hamburg Bach Prize (2019), the Marie-Josée Kravis Prize (2020), the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2021) and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (2024), The Korea Times reported. In March 2026, she became the first Korean recipient of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera.

In 2025, the Berliner Philharmoniker's recording "Unsuk Chin Edition" won the Contemporary Music Recording Award at the International Classical Music Awards. Since 2022, she has also served as artistic director of both the Tongyeong International Music Festival and Taiwan's Weiwuying International Music Festival.

Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon received the Performance Award, worth $21,500. Yekwon won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2017, and his album "Cliburn Gold 2017" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart, according to The Korea Times.

Violinist Kim Seo-hyun claimed the Emerging Artist Award, also valued at $21,500. In 2023, at age 14, she became the youngest winner in the history of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition. She signed an exclusive contract with artist management firm HarrisonParrott in 2025.

The awards ceremony is scheduled for June 8 at the Westin Josun Seoul, the Daewon Culture Foundation said.