Classical music composer Park Myung-hoon was named the Grand Prize winner of the Isang Yun International Composition Prize 2013 for his latest piece, “puzzle house,” the Isang Yun Peace Foundation said Monday.

Park, 33, is the first Korean to receive the biennial prize, which was established in 2007 to commemorate the internationally acclaimed Germany-based Korean composer Yun Isang who died in 1995. Park will receive $20,000 in prize money.

The jury including Lee Geon-yong, Paul Mefano, Bright Sheng, Walter Zimmermann and Kevin Volans said Park’s piece was “the best in the world in terms of the size and content.” The nomination was made after “puzzle house” was performed by the Ewha Philharmonic Orchestra at Seoul Arts Center on Saturday as part of the competition.

Park studied composition at Hanyang University and is currently studying at Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf in Germany. He was a first-prize winner in the JoongAng Music Competition and a finalist in the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Composers.

Jacobo Gaspar Grandal nabbed both the BAIKSAN Special Prize and Audience Prize with “Ars Umbrae.”

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)