Born in South Korea in 1983, Donghoon Shin lives in London, where he is pursuing a PhD in composition under the supervision of Sir George Benjamin at King’s College London. He studied composition at Seoul National University with Sukhi Kang and Uzong Choe, and with Julian Anderson at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has been mentored by Unsuk Chin and Peter Eötvös.
 
Being an admirer of J. L. Borges’ works, Donghoon Shin finds inspiration in the interconnectedness of the matters: “I was completely entranced by his writing and the idea of intertextuality. […] Through Borges‘ works, I’ve learnt how to mix and juxtapose disparate things to create a new meaning.” Donghoon Shin won prestigious awards such as the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize 2016 and the UK Critics’ Circle Music Award 2019.
 
Recent works include Of Rats and Men for chamber orchestra commissioned and premiered by the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Peter Eötvös and Kafka’s Dream for the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
 
In 2022, Shin will be awarded the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize of the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, together with a commission for a cello concerto for musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan Academy conducted by Kirill Petrenko. Further commissions include a new orchestral work co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and Bamberg Symphony (2022/23), and a violin concerto for Kristóf Baráti and the Pannon Philharmonic.

In 2019, Donghoon Shin was selected as a laureate of ricordilab, Ricordi Berlin’s international program to promote young composers.

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