Byeongso Ahn

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Byeongso Ahn (안병소), born 1 December 1911 in Seoul, Korea, and died 6 March 1979, was a Korean violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator. He was a leading figure of Western classical music in Korea and is credited with presenting Korea’s first violin concerto and likely the first Western violin recording there.

Family and early life
Ahn came from an artistic family. His grandfather was a court painter, and his father was a language teacher who studied in the United Kingdom. He received his first violin training in Seoul from Josef Huss and began building his career after studying with other teachers in Asia and Europe.

Education and important teachers
- Learned from Eugene Krein in Japan (around 1929).
- Studied music theory with Josef Linke in the early 1930s.
- Was strongly influenced by Russian violinist Alexander Mogilevsky.
- In 1934 he moved to Germany, studied privately with Willy Hess, and attended the Berlin University of the Arts, where Max Strub and others taught him (including Gustav Malke, Fritz Stein, Eta Harich-Schneider, and Paul Hindemith).
- Performed with the Berlin Philharmonic during the 1936 Olympic Games under Richard Strauss and learned instrument making in Berlin.

Career in Korea and abroad
He returned to Korea in 1938, worked in Japanese-occupied Korea, and in Manchuria around 1939 (sometimes using the name Heitho Ahn). In the 1940s he taught at the Yun-ak-won music academy. After Korea’s independence, he began conducting, leading the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the founding ceremony of the National Assembly. In 1950 he became music director of the Daehan Philharmonic Orchestra, and during the Korean War he served in a military music post.

Composing, conducting, and teaching
In the 1950s Ahn began composing more actively; his oldest surviving work is from 1939. He resumed conducting after the war, including guest work with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. He was a dedicated music educator, teaching many students who went on to become prominent musicians, such as Kyung Wha Chung and Dong-Suk Kang, among others.

Personal life
He was married to pianist Aenae Lee. His brother Byeongdo Ahn fell from public favor after the 1961 military coup, and Byeongso Ahn became increasingly isolated. He died in 1979 at the age of 67.