Remembering Sung-Jae LEE - composer and visionary leader
By Hi Kyung KIM

Sung-Jae LEE, internationally recognized composer and a senior composer in Korea, died peacefully at 10:00am on November 29, 2009, Sunday at Seoul National University Hospital after a long illness.  He was 84.

LEE was born in Icheon on December 16, 1924 as the sixth son of the family.  He graduated from Icheon Elementary School, Hwimoon High School, and the College of Music at Seoul National University.  He continued his study at the Wiener Akademie f� Musik in Vienna where he studied composition, electronic music and modern music, and he studied musicology at the Music Faculty of Vienna University.  As a visiting professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he conducted research in computer music in 1990.

Sung-Jae LEE comes from the generation that rebuilt their country after the almost total devastation of war. His work in the field of Music and the Arts was constant and creative, and is a monument that laid the groundwork for the Institutions that thrive in today's Korea. Music education there has a strong foundation and Korea's Universities and Conservatories are now producing musicians and composers among the finest in the world. Sung-Jae LEE led in building this foundation. In 1958, he organized Changak Hoe (the Contemporary Music Society in Seoul).  During his 17-year tenure as the first chairman, his contribution to the contemporary music was remarkable.  He was the founding member of the Korean Committee of Federation International Jeunesses Musicales, which greatly contributed to the development of youth music. He was the senior advisor of Jeunesses Musicales de Cor� and he was the honorary chairman of Changak Hoe (the Contemporary Music Society in Seoul).  

He was actively involved from almost the inception of Asian Composers' League (ACL).  He served as the president of ACL as well as the chairman of the Korea National Committee for ACL, and was an honorary member of ACL.

From 1956-1990, he was on a faculty at Seoul National University, where he served as the Dean of the College of Music, and he became a Professor Emeritus in 1990.

He served as the Chairman of the advisory committee for the founding of the Korean National University of Arts in 1992.  He was invited to be the first Dean of the College of Music at Suwon University in 1997.  He served as the chairman for Ahn Ik-tae Memorial Foundation from 1994-2001.

In 1993, he was appointed as the seventh President of the Arts Council Korea (formerly the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation).  

He was decorated with the honorable  Order des Arts et des Lettres  from the French government in 1984, the Korean Medal Mo Ran Jang  in cultural education  from the Korean government in 1990,  the Korean Medal Bo Gwan Hung Jang in Culture from the Korean government in 1996.  He also received the Korean Culture and Arts Award in 1992, and the Grand Prix in Arts and Culture from the Korean Artists' Association (Han Guk Ye Chong) in 1998.

As a composer, his music ranges from solo to large chamber music for Western instruments as well as for Korean instruments. Over his long career his music was performed and recorded all over the world.  It appears on records and CDs recorded by European and American artists, as well as his own native Korean.  His reputation was international. He kept composing until only recently when he was overcome by his complicated illness. He wrote over twenty articles on various topics including  Early Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg  and books, Music and Education I, II.

Distinguished Chinese-American composer /scholar, CHOU Wen-chung wrote: "LEE Sung-Jae spent his whole life working in behalf of the modern revival of the great Korean musical heritage. His selfless dedication to the music of East Asia is such that all of us are indebted
to his contribution to the growth of contemporary music in East Asia. We mourn the loss
of LEE Sung-Jae but hope the spirit of his idealism will continue to inspire us all."

Composer Kyung-sun SUH writes: "After my first participation in the ACL Taipei Festival in 1976, at the recommendation of Sung-Jae LEE, I served as the president of ACL and became an Honorary member of ACL--this was all indebted to Sung-Jae LEE.  The current reputation of Korean composers and the high standing of ACL-Korea in Asia and in the world is indebted to Sung-Jae LEE, who was the pioneer in the field of Korean Contemporary music--it is the result of LEE's rare powers of persuasion and creativity."

David Evan Jones, composer/professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz recalls:
"I was impressed with his efforts to forge cultural connections between Korea and Western cultures through music.  I remember Professor Sung-Jae LEE as a highly accomplished composer and as an extraordinarily kind and supportive cultural ambassador."

Geonyong LEE, a former student of Sung-Jae LEE and professor/former president of the Korean National University of the Arts, remembers him: " Professor LEE contributed his life for the development of Contemporary music of Korea and Asia.  Without his vision and leadership, Korean Contemporary Music could not have developed at the current caliber."

A constant promoter of culture, he is remembered for his calm and always positive outlook, and his gentle but firm persuasion in guiding others. His love of Korean culture was obvious and he promoted it in unselfish ways for the good of all who participated. He is remembered not just for his music, but for his articulation of Korean aesthetics and Korean culture all around the world through his travels and lectures. That the musical world of present day Korea is rich and varied for both contemporary and classical music, and in performance as well as education, is in no small part due to the pioneering work of Sung-Jae LEE.

LEE is survived by his wife, KIM Soon and his sons Jong-geon, Jong-jin, and Jong-seo.

(Hi Kyung KIM is a former student of Sung-Jae LEE.   She is a composer and a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she serves as the artistic director of the Pacific Rim Music Festival.)