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Im Won-sik (; June 24, 1919 – August 26, 2002) was a Korean conductor, composer, and musical pedagogue. According to his obituary in the ''
Asahi Shimbun is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...
'', Im was the "father of the Korean classical music world"; he has also been referred to as "Korea's Toscanini."


Biography

Im was born in Gishū, Heianhoku Prefecture,
Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...
(today Uiju, North Pyongan Province, North Korea) to a family of devout
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
. When Im was four years old, his family moved to
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
in
Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
. Im's first exposures to music occurred in church, where he learned to play the
organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...
. During his teenage years, Im supported his family by playing piano at movie theatres and hymns at church. Im graduated from a music school founded by White Russians in 1939. The following year Im enrolled at the Tokyo Academy of Music, where he studied with Moroi Saburō. Im made his public debut there as a pianist in 1940. While living in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, Im earned a living arranging
film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
. Upon graduation in 1942, Im moved to
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
where he worked with the Harbin Symphony Orchestra. It was there that Im met Asahina Takashi, whose conducting he admired. Im later became Asahina's only pupil as well as lifelong friend. After the end of the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
, Im sheltered Asahina from
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
soldiers in his home and helped to arrange his return to Japan. After departing from Manchuria, Im returned to his homeland. In January 1948, Im led a performance of '' La traviata'' in
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
, the first ever complete operatic production in Korea. Financial difficulties in Korea's nascent orchestral infrastructure led him to embark to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
for studies at the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
. While in the United States, Im took private lessons with
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
and conducting lessons from Serge Koussevitzky. In 1949, Im became the first Asian conductor to lead the
Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...
. Im returned to Korea in 1949. On September 23, 1950, Im was arrested and detained by South Korean police on charges of having collaborated with North Korea during its brief occupation of Seoul earlier that year. In 1953, Im was a co-founder and later principal of the Seoul Arts High School. Later, he was also a dean and professor at
Kyung Hee University Kyung Hee University (KHU; ) is a Private university, private research university in South Korea with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. It was founded in 1949. Kyung Hee University is part of the Kyung Hee University System, which offers comprehensive ...
and at the Chugye University for the Arts. Three years later Im was appointed the first music director of the KBS Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1970. When composer Yun Isang was arrested in the East Berlin Affair espionage scandal in 1967, Im testified on his behalf, petitioned for his release, and continued to perform his music. Im led the Korean premieres of Yun's Symphony No. 3 and Violin Concerto. In 1984, Im was appointed music director of the . He stepped down from the position in 1990; two years later he was appointed the orchestra's honorary permanent conductor. Im was also appointed honorary permanent conductor of the KBS Symphony. Im marked the
golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...
of his career debut by conducting a cycle of all nine
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
symphonies. When in 1971 the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra came to Seoul to perform its first concert outside of Japan, its then music director Asahina invited Im to share the conducting duties. Decades later they planned a joint concert to commemorate the
2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
, but it could not be realized on account of Asahina's death in December 2001. Im—along with Wakasugi Hiroshi, Toyama Yūzō, and Iwaki Hiroyuki—conducted at Asahina's memorial concert on February 7, 2002. The World Cup concert with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which he had originally envisioned to be shared with Asahina, was led by Im alone on June 1, 2002. The performance would be his last. Shortly thereafter, Im was diagnosed with terminal
stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
. He died weeks later on August 26 in
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
. Im was a
polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
, being fluent in Japanese, Chinese,
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
, and English, as well as in his native Korean.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Im, Won-Sik 1919 births 2002 deaths 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century South Korean composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Korean people Korean classical pianists Korean composers Korean conductors (music) South Korean music educators Tokyo University of the Arts alumni People from Uiju County Korean expatriates in Manchukuo