Korea''s leading English daily The Korea Herald and its sister paper Herald Business wrapped its five-day inaugural classical music event "The 1st Korea Herald Music Competition" last month from Sept. 19 to Sept. 24.
The competition was organized by Herald Media Inc. as a platform to discover and nurture emerging young classical musicians.
A total of 400 entrants divided into middle school, high school and college divisions went through fierce competition in a wide range of classical music disciplines such as piano, violin, viola, flute, cello, oboe, and singing.
Of them, 127 advanced into the preliminary rounds with 19 taking home the top prize.
The awards ceremony was held last Saturday at the Herald Media headquarters in downtown central Seoul attended by the Italian and German ambassadors to Korea, who presented special awards to the first place winners of the middle school and high school divisions.
The university division winners were awarded cash prizes of 2 million won with 1 million won and 500,000 won dispersed to those who finished in second and third place.
Comments from the judges
Piano
Chu Hee-sung 좌괄호Seoul National University Professor우괄호
The skill level of the entrants that made it to the preliminaries set the bar very high and each had their own characteristics that distinguished them from the next.
It was a hard task to decide on the winners.
In the middle school and high school divisions, the young musicians did well in selecting difficult musical pieces but there was a lack of expression and depth in their performances.
And although the university division boasted some performances on a par with professional musicians, there were a few who had room for improvement.
But all of the entrants in each of the divisions showed great talent and I felt that level of quality by watching them perform.
This competition wasn''t simply a competition but it was also a stepping stone for all entrants to continue honing their craft.
I have great anticipation that future editions of The Korea Herald Music Competition will continue to instill hope and discover emerging classical musicians.
Violin
Lee Taek-joo 좌괄호Ehwa Woman''s University Professor우괄호
Even though this is was an inaugural music competition, I was surprised by the number of participants and their level of skill.
The competition itself was run smoothly and I could tell there was a lot of hard work and planning that went into this event.
With that said, the skill level of violinists in the middle school division was about even across the board while performances from the high school division were below my expectations.
The university division, on the other hand, presented quality performances that turned the finals into a nail-biter of sorts.
All of the entrants in that division had a strong foundation and each showed their own distinguishing characteristics in their performances and this made it difficult for the judges.
For the next installment, university division performances during the preliminaries should allow them to perform entire pieces without pause.
Cello
Na Deok-sung 좌괄호Joong-Ang University Honorary Professor우괄호
Even with little time to prepare for this competition, the young musicians that participated in the event were able to perform well.
This competition allowed entrants to freely perform selections of their own choosing, which contributed to them showing off their own distinct characteristics on stage.
In the case of middle school division winner Lee Young-gwang, he was poised and showed composure during his performance.
Second-place winner Jung Da-eun as well had a thrilling performance.
High school division winner Kim Na-yeon''s performance was full of emotion when her piece required her to be and she topped it exquisitely when it picked up speed.
In the university division, Lim Jae-sung''s first place performance of a Tchaikovsky piece was interpreted with depth and his technique was exceptional.
Viola
Oh Soon-hwa 좌괄호Korea Arts School Professor우괄호
I was anticipating a large gap in quality of the freestyle performances between participants during the preliminaries and finals but I found it very difficult to make a distinction.
This was especially the case for the university division where each entrant was able to bring out the most attractive sounds of the viola.
But there was room for improvement in their ability to orchestrate their tempo and in the interpretations of their musical selections.
The two top-placed finishers in the high school division had strong foundation skills but perhaps they lacked preparation time because the flow in their performances did not sound natural.
In the middle school division, there quite a few who chose musical pieces that were simply too difficult for them to digest.
Flute
Park Hae-ran 좌괄호Sungshin Women''s University Professor우괄호
It was encouraging to see The Korea Herald organizing a classical music competition, and even though it was the inaugural event there were many great performances showcased by the participants.
This was especially the case for general participants who gave high-quality performances that surprised the judging panel and that was why there were quite a few co-winners among the first, second, and third place finishers.
The future looks bright for the emerging flutists who competed in this competition.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate all of the winners and would like to send words of encouragement to those who didn''t to continue honing their craft.
Oboe
Lee Myung-jin 좌괄호Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra principal oboist우괄호
Those who advanced to the finals showed brilliant finger technique but there was a large gap between those who did qualify for the finals and those who didn''t.
There was a lot of applause and praise from the judges in regards to the skill level of the first place winner of the middle school division and all of the high school division participants who advanced to the finals showed good foundation skills.
Especially commendable was the composure they showed even under heavy pressure to deliver.
In the university division, I was a bit disappointed because their performances felt ill-prepared compared to those of the middle and high school division.
Vocal
Kim Kwan-dong 좌괄호Yonsei University Professor우괄호
The thing I felt the most strongly from the start of the competition to the end was the importance of foundation.
To be more specific, tone, temple, rhythm, diction should all be perfected first and foremost.
Most of the participants were too absorbed in their own emotions, and they ended up misinterpreting the objective of their selected pieces.
Some even mimicked famous performances during their recitals.
But this music competition showed a possibility in many emerging classical musicians and that alone was a great achievement.
