By Park Ji-won
Korean composer Chin Un-suk became the first Asian to receive Denmark's prestigious Leonie Sonning Music Prize.
The organizer of the prize, which has recognized international composers and musicians since 1959, announced the award ceremony was held at the DR Concert Hall in Denmark, June 5. The award has been given out since 1959 to honor internationally recognized musicians, including composers and conductors. Past winners include iconic composers Igor Stravinsky (1959), Leonard Bernstein (1965) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1973).
"I am deeply humbled and grateful to win the Leonie Sonning Music Prize 2021. It is an honor as well as a great challenge, all the more given my great admiration for the previous awardees, most of whom have served as personal heroes and role models during my musical life. I am enormously touched by the jury's accolade and feel a great affinity for the high artistic values represented by the Leonie Sonning Foundation. I look greatly forward towards reconnecting with your beautiful and highly artistic city, to working together with Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, other excellent ensembles and musicians, as well as with the Royal Danish Academy of Music," Chin was quoted as saying by the award organizer.