“Spectrum not limited to solo piano”… Jae-Hong Park, Busoni Competition Korea 2nd Prize Winner

Park Jae-hong (15 years old at the time), who won the middle school prize in the piano section of the 2014 Ewha Kyunghyang Music Competition, said, “I respect the pianist Marta Argerich and the conductor Claudio Abbado.” “If I had to have a job other than the piano, I would like to become a science teacher,” he said. Seven years have passed and he has become a 22-year-old young musician and has delivered good news. Jaehong Park won the first place at the 63rd Busoni International Piano Competition, which ended in Bolzano, Italy on the 3rd (local time). It also won special awards in four categories, including the Best Performance Award and Chamber Music Performance Award.

The competition, which started in 1949, is famous for its difficult judging. Famous pianists such as Alfred Brendel, Jörg Demus, Marta Argerich, Gehrig Olsen and Richard Goode are on the list of past winners. Moon Ji-young is the first Korean to win the championship in 2015. Other past Korean award winners include pianist Baek Geon-woo who received a gold medal in 1969, followed by Hye-kyung Seo (second place without first place in 1980), Yoon-soo Lee (second place without first place in 1997), and Min-su Son (third place in 1999). ), Jo Hye-jeong (2nd place in 2001), Lim Dong-min (3rd place in 2001), Kim Hye-jin (3rd place in 2005), and Won Jae-yeon (2nd place in 2017).

Jae-Hong Park is a fourth-year student at the Korea National University of Arts. He is a disciple of Professor Daejin Kim, the pianist and president of this school. Professor Kim has taught outstanding pianists such as Kim Seon-wook, Son Yeol-eum, and Lee Jin-sang. In particular, among his pupils, Jiyoung Moon and Jaehong Park achieved the feat of winning the Busoni Competition at intervals of 6 years. Professor Kim said on the phone with reporters that the Busoni Competition is “one of the most important piano competitions in Europe.”

Unlike the Chopin Competition, which is particularly interested in Korea, which competes with the music of ‘Only Chopin’, the Busoni Competition competes with the music of various composers. It is characterized by three-dimensional evaluation of the competencies of the participants not only as soloists, but also through chamber music performances and collaborations with orchestras.

Professor Kim commented on Park Jae-hong as “a musician with a very broad spectrum, not limited to solo piano.” “Since childhood, I have been good at accompaniment and playing chamber music. I know that I often listen to symphonies as well. To be honest, such a pianist is rare. In many cases, they are immersed in their own genre and have little interest in other things. However, Jaehongi has a very wide range of music. That point stood out greatly, such as winning the Chamber Music Performance Award at this competition.”

In addition, this year’s Busoni Competition brought another good news. Kim Do-hyeon (27) is the second winner. As a special prize, it also received the Best Contemporary Art Performance Award. He was tied for second place without first place at the 2017 Verbier Festival Vendôme Prize Competition and received a special semi-final prize at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. He studied with pianists Hyesun Baek and Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Conservatory of Music, USA, and is currently studying at the school’s professional performer course. Austria’s Lucas Sternat (20) took third place.