Composer Shin Donghoon on June 14 won the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize from the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Pictured is the orchestra on June 12 performing without an audience led by conductor Simon Rattle at Berlin's Philharmonie Hall. (Yonhap News)

By Min Yea-Ji and Yoon Hee Young

Composer Shin Donghoon is the first Asian to win the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

The orchestra on June 14 named Shin the recipient of this year's award.

The Foundation for the Promotion of the Karajan Academy gives the award to honor Claudio Abbado, who succeeded Herbert von Karajan as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and served from 1989-2002. Bestowed irregularly to young composers with extraordinary talent, the award was launched in 2006 with Jorg Widmann as the recipient and its last award before Shin came in 2010, which went to Bruno Mantovani.

Shin is the sixth winner of the prize.

On the occasion of his award, Shin has been commissioned to compose a cello concerto to be conducted on May 7 next year by Kirill Petrenko, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Bruno Delepelaire, the orchestra's principal cellist, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Karajan Academy.

Majoring in music composition at Seoul National University and now pursuing a doctorate at King's College London, Shin performs mainly in the U.K. capital and is working with leading orchestras abroad including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Spanish National Orchestra.

In fall next year in Los Angeles, the composer will debut a new orchestral work jointly commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic. His violin concerto dedicated to Hungarian violinist Kristof Barati will also premiere next year.

jesimin@korea.kr