Baek Byung-dong, Pioneering Korean Modern Music Composer, Dies at 90

Baek Byung-dong, a leading figure in Korean modern music and a former professor at Seoul National University, died on the 12th at age 90. Born in 1936 in Manchuria, he became one of the most influential composers in Korea’s contemporary music scene.

After graduating from Seoul National University’s College of Music, Baek studied composition in Germany under Yun Yisang at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover. This Western training, combined with his Korean roots, helped shape a distinctive voice in Korean modernism.

Baek received numerous honors throughout his career, beginning with the 1961 Rookie Art Award. He later earned prizes such as the Korea Composers Award, the Korea Dance Festival Music Award, the Seoul City Cultural Award, and the Korea Music Award. He taught at Seoul National University as a professor of composition, became an emeritus professor, and also held a chair at Cheonan University. Since 2011, he was a member of the Korean Academy of Arts.

His output exceeded 100 works across genres, encompassing vocal music, orchestral works, chamber music, opera, cantatas, dance music, and pieces for traditional Korean instruments. Notable works include the vocal pieces “O Blue Tombstones!” and “Funeral Song,” as well as orchestral works “Jinyeo” and “Funeral.”

Baek’s influence extended beyond composition to education: his harmony textbook, 화성학, was long regarded as a cornerstone text for Korean music majors, praised for presenting Western theory in a clear and systematic Korean-language format.

Survivors include his wife, Woo Haja, and his nephew, Woo Yeon. The family says the wake is at Seoul St. Mary’s Funeral Home, Room 6, with the funeral service on the morning of the 15th at 6:50 a.m. and burial at Seoul Memorial Park. Inquiries can be directed to the funeral home at 02-2258-5959.

Baek’s death matters beyond Korea because he helped fuse Korean and European musical traditions and trained generations of composers and educators. For the U.S. audience, his career underscores Korea’s long-standing strengths in advanced music education and its growing role in global cultural exchange, with implications for collaborations in contemporary classical music, academic study, and the broader cultural economy that links Korean arts to American institutions, audiences, and markets.