South Korea’s Seong-Jin Cho wins Poland's Chopin Competition
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
21.10.2015 08:18
South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho has won the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, becoming the first contestant from his country ever to win the event.
Seong-Jin Cho performs at the Warsaw Philharmonic. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
The jury announced its verdict shortly before 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, four hours after the last of the ten finalists, Yike (Tony) Yang of Canada, finished his performance.
The verdict was met with tumultuous applause from hundreds of fans waiting in the Warsaw Philharmonic's foyer, Seong-Jin Cho being one of their favourites.
Second Prize went to Charles Richard-Hamelin of Canada, and the Third to Kate Liu of the United States. Eric Lu of the United States, Canada’s Yike (Tony) Yung and Dmitry Shishkin of Russia received the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Prizes respectively. Poland’s Szymon Nehring is one of the four pianists to have been given an honourable mention.
The special prize for the best interpretation of a polonaise went to Seong-Jin Cho. Kate Liu received the prize for the best interpretation of the mazurkas and Charles Richard-Hamelin is the recipient of the Krystian Zimerman Award for the best performance of Chopin’s sonata.
Born in Seoul in 1994, Seong-Jin Cho started playing the piano at the age of six. At 11, he gave his first public recital. A prizewinner of the Chopin Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and the Hamamatsu Piano Competition in Japan, he has performed with many leading orchestras and has given recitals at many prestigious venues. He is currently a student of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. (mk/nh/rk)