Kunsu Shim

Kunsu Shim is a composer who was born in 1958 in South Korea, the son of re-migrants from Japan. He studied composition at Yonsei University in Seoul; after coming to Germany in 1985, he studied with Lachenmann and Nicolaus A. Huber. Around that time, he met Gerhard Stäbler, who is to this day his partner and collaborator; since 1992 they have organized a large number of events in the Ruhr under the names Aktive Musik and EarPort. He has been artist in residence at Djerassi, Ragdale, and Schreyahn, and has lectured at the Folkwang, Donta, Sukmyong and Suwon Universities. In addition to numerous awards and “Artists in Residency” grants throughout the world, Shim was awarded a stipend by the Academy of the Arts Berlin in 1998, and was awarded – together with Stäbler – “composer-in-residence” at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Chicago that same year. His music has been featured at the Ultima Festival, the Kore Festival, the Borealis Festival, at the University of Toronto and Columbia University, as well as at concerts and master classes in the United States, Greece, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and in many German cities. Shim resides permanently in Germany.