Composer Chin Unsuk, who is also artistic director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, on March 18 won the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera from the BBVA Foundation of Spain. (BBVA Foundation)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

Composer Chin Unsuk, artistic director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, has won this year's Frontiers Award for Music and Opera from the BBVA Foundation of Spain, the first Korean to earn the honor.

The foundation's website on March 18 quoted the awards committee as saying Chin "has developed a 'singular technique of great solidity' defined 'by her refined command of sound and masterful ability to transform it into a play of illusions and metamorphoses, marking her out as one of the great innovators in contemporary music.'"

Chin will receive prize money of EUR 400,000 (KRW 680 million). The awards ceremony is slated for June in Bilbao, Spain.

Founded in 2008, the honors recognize figures making major contributions in eight areas including scientific research and cultural creation.

In 2024, Chin became the first Asian to win the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize of Germany.

aisylu@korea.kr