Sukhi Kang: Lye-Buhl

(Submitted by ISCM – SOUTH KOREAN SECTION in remembrance the late Sukhi Kang (1936-2020), Honorary Member of the ISCM, who is Honorary President (Chairman) of ISCM Korea section and Founder of the PAN Music Festival.)

Sukhi Kang was born in Seoul, Korea, on October 22, 1934. He graduated from the Seoul National University College of Music, and continued his studies in Germany at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, as well as at the Technische Universität und MusikHochschule in Berlin, from 1970 to 1975. Kang became professor of composition at Seoul National University in 1982, serving there for almost 20 years until his retirement in 2000.

He was awarded numerous international prizes and honors, such as being selected for the International Rostrum of Composers, Paris, UNESCO in 1976; the Korean National Composers’ Prize, Seoul, 1978; the Grand-Prix of the Korea National Composers’ Prize, 1979; Musician of the Year Award given by the Association of Korean Musicians, 1989; and the Cultural Art Prize of the President of Korea in 1990.

Kang was actively involved in international musical life as an organizer and director of Contemporary Music Festivals in Seoul such as the PAN Music Festival since 1969 to 1992, Dimension Festival and the Experimental Music Festival “Inventionen” in Berlin from 1982 to 1984. He was music director of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games closing ceremony, and served as the co-director of the Mosaico Festival with Krzysztof Penderecki in Kraków, Poland.

Sukhi Kang died at the age of 85 on August 16, 2020.

Lye-Buhl is a 1968 composition for solo voice, male choir, and percussion ensemble. It was first performed in Seoul on November 20, 1969.