hankyoreh

Park Jong-min

By Chung Sang-young, Senior Staff Writer

Young Korean musicians have swept up a number of awards at the renowned International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia.

At the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition, which took place from June 15-30 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, bass Park Jong-min (24, Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Italy) and soprano Seo Sun-young (27, Robert-Schumann-Hochschule, Dusseldorf, Germany) won first prize in the male and female vocal sections respectively. Son Yeol-eum (25, Hochschule fur Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, Germany) and Cho Seong-jin (17, Seoul Arts High School) won second and third prizes in the piano section. Lee Je-hye (25, Kronberg Academy, Germany) came third in the violin section.

This is the first time that Korean musicians have taken so many prizes at once at the Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the three greatest classical music competitions in the world. In particular, taking both second and third prizes in the piano section, known as the “flower of the competition,” is the best achievement by Korean musicians in history, while first place in both the male and female vocalist sections is also a first. Korean musicians that have won prizes at the competition until now are Chung Myung-whun, current music director of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, who came in joint second place in the piano section in 1974; Professor Choi Hyun-soo of Korea National University of Arts (KNUA), who won first place in the vocalist section in 1990, and Jennifer Koh, who came second in the violin section in 1994. All three musicians had United States nationality at the time, however.

The results are considered highly significant by those in the Korean music world. Given the fact that most of the prize winners at the competition are home-grown musicians that laid their musical foundations at places such as KNUA and Korean arts high schools, their achievements are seen as shown the world the high standard of Korean music.

The subject of most attention is Son Yeol-eum, who was being tipped as a candidate for victory from before the start of the competition. Son drew a standing ovation from audiences during the final play-offs for his combination of technique and passion in interpreting Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. In addition to his second place overall, Son won the Prize for the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work by Rodion Shchedrin and the Prize for the Best Performance of the Chamber Concerto. Son, who studied under Professor Kim Dae-jin at KNUA’s School of Music, performed with world-famous conductor Lorin Maazel during the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Asia tour in 2004, when his potential was recognized. After grabbing the attention of the international music world with his second place in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, Son has now achieved recognition as an international master thanks to this victory. Expressing his feelings immediately after winning the prize, Son said, “The competition has a long schedule, and I still can’t believe it’s over. I think I’ve done better than I was expecting, and I’m really happy that it finished well.”

Winning vocalists Park Jong-min and Seo Sun-young, and winning violinist Lee Je-hye, all studied at the KNUA’s School of Music. Park and Seo studied under tenor Professor Choi Hyun-soo and Lee under violinist Professor Kim Nam-yun. Professor Kim Dae-jin (49), who taught Son, expressed happiness at the result, saying, “This has showed the world how excellent Korean music is. For a Korean pianist to get a result like this in unfavorable circumstances where not a single judge was East Asian is practically the same as coming first.”

The Tchaikovsky Competition began in 1958 and is held every four years. It is divided into four sections: piano, violin, cello and voice. Winners in each section receive prize money and the chance to perform with the Mariinsky Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.

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