[2] The origin of this festival results from the spirit to commemorate Isang Yun (윤이상; 1917–1995), a world-renowned composer who was born in Sancheong near Tongyeong and lived the latter part of life in Berlin, Germany.
2 years of experiments in the form of festival made it clear that the content of western music could be cooperatively coexistent with Tongyeong's environments.
TIMF 2002, the first edition of a new 'international' format, was presented by this new legal entity through organizational forces caused by the Board, the Managing Committee and the Administration Office.
Based upon the past 2 years' experiences, the programmers of the Secretariat constituted Tongyeong International Music Festival 2002, for 8 consecutive days in March.
The uniqueness in contemporary programming results from its spiritual motto that encourages programmers to commemorate and inherit creative minds of Isang Yun, a Korean composer born in Tongyeong.
TIMF has set up its own programming policy to honor contemporary era by finding the beauty of the works and introducing it to new and young audiences.
Leoš Janáček (Czech; 1854~1928) Edward Elgar (England; 1857~1934) Isaac Albéniz (Spain; 1860~1909) Gustav Mahler (Austria; 1860~1911) Claude Debussy (France; 1862~1918) Richard Strauss (Germany; 1864~1949) Alexander Scriabin (Russia; 1872~1915) Ralph Vaughan Williams (England; 1872~1958) Sergei Rachmaninoff (Russia; 1873~1943) Arnold Schoenberg (Austria; 1874~1951) Charles Ives (America; 1874~1954) Maurice Ravel (France; 1875~1937) Manuel de Falla (Spain; 1876~1946) Béla Bartók (Hungary; 1881~1945) Karol Szymanowski (Poland; 1882~1937) Zoltán Kodály (Hungary; 1882~1967) Anton Webern (Austria; 1883~1945) Edgard Varèse (France; 1883~1965) Alban Berg (Austria; 1885~1935) Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil; 1887~1959) Bohuslav Martinu (Czech; 1890~1959) Sergei Prokofiev (Russia; 1891~1953) Darius Milhaud (France; 1892~1974) Paul Hindemith (Germany; 1895~1963) Francis Poulenc (France; 1899~1963) Luigi Dallapiccola (Italy; 1904~1975) Andre Jolivet (France; 1905~1974) Giacinto Scelsi (Italy; 1905~1988) Dmitri Shostakovich (Russia; 1906~1975) Olivier Messiaen (France; 1908~1992) Elliott Carter (America; 1908~2012) Samuel Barber (America; 1910~1981) John Cage (America; 1912~1992) Benjamin Britten (England; 1913~1976) Witold Lutosławski (Poland; 1913~1994) Alberto Ginastera (Argentina; 1916~1983) Henri Dutilleux (France; 1916~) Ástor Piazzolla (Argentina; 1921~1992) Iannis Xenakis (Greece; 1922~2001) György Ligeti (Hungary; 1923~2006) Luigi Nono (Italy; 1924~1990) Luciano Berio (Italy; 1925~2003) Pierre Boulez (France; 1925~) György Kurtág (Hungary; 1926~) Karlheinz Stockhausen (Germany; 1928~2007) Mauricio Kagel (Germany; 1931~2008) Sofia Gubaidulina (Russia; 1931~) Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland; 1933~) Alfred Schnittke (Russia; 1934~1998) Arvo Pärt (Estonia; 1935~) Steve Reich (America; 1936~) Heinz Holliger (Switzerland; 1939~) Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (Azerbaijan; 1947~) Salvatore Sciarrino (Italy; 1947~) Wolfgang Rihm (Germany; 1952~) As well as composers, TIMF has also presented outstanding musicians and performers.
For this reason, TIMF's concert model is structured in a symmetrical compatibility between experimental performances to introduce young players and big-scale projects run by globally recognized orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists or operatic productions.
The inaugural artistic director was Alexander Liebreich, principal conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, followed by the German cultural manager Florian Riem, and (from 2022 onwards), the composer Unsuk Chin.