Three S. Koreans win Tchaikovsky Competition in violin, cello, voice

Three South Koreans have won first prizes in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in the categories of violin, cello and voice, its website showed Friday.

Kim Gye-hee and Lee Young-eun clinched the gold medals in violin and cello, respectively, becoming the first Korean laureates in the competition’s instrumental music categories.

Tenor Son Ji-hoon was named the winner of the voice category.

Kim, 29, studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in the United States, Seoul National University in South Korea and the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in Germany, having won the George Enescu, Andrea Postacchini, Munetsugu and Gnessin Junior International Music competitions.

She played Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35″ and Mozart’s “Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, KV 219″ in the final round.

Lee, 25, studied at Seoul National University and is currently studying at the Tianjin Juilliard School in China.

She performed Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33″ and Shostakovich’s “Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107″ in the final round.

“I participated with the desire to discover how convincing and expressive my music is.” Lee said during a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency. “I entered the competition with the expectation of growing as a musician, and I am grateful and touched that many people liked it.”

Son, 33, graduated from the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul and studied at the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding in Germany. He is the laureate of the Montserrat Caballe International Singing Competition in Madrid and the Giovan Battista Viotti International Music Competition in Italy last year.

Son said he considered the renowned competition to be his last challenge due to the age limit and was grateful to achieve good results.

“I feel like I’ve received a small certification that allows me to step onto more stages,” Son said in a phone interview with Yonhap.

Son is preparing to debut on the opera stages of Europe, including Hungary in September and Switzerland in December. In November, he will hold a duet concert with soprano Park Hye-sang at Bucheon Arts Center, just west of Seoul.

Founded in 1958 in Russia, the classical music competition is held once every four years and features six categories: piano, violin, cello, voice, brass and woodwind, which musicians aged between 16 and 32 years of age can enter.

It is considered one of the most respected music competitions in the world, but its reputation has been tarnished after being excluded from the World Federation of International Music Competitions in April 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.