Cho Seongjin's Chopin Competition Rival, Richard Amelin, to Visit Korea Again

Second Korea Tour Performance on April 25 at Yesul-ui Jeondang

[Photo by The Bridge Company]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Charles Richard-Hamelin (31, photo), a Canadian pianist who competed with Seong-Jin Cho (26) at the 2015 Chopin International Piano Competition, will hold his second concert in Korea on the 25th of next month. The venue is the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall.

The Chopin Competition is the world's most prestigious international piano competition held every five years. In the 2015 competition, Seong-Jin Cho won first place, and Richard-Hamelin took second place.

Richard-Hamelin held his first concert in Korea at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in November 2018. At that time, the program consisted solely of Chopin's works, and Richard-Hamelin performed four of Chopin's Ballades and four Impromptus.

In this second concert in Korea, he will perform works by Chopin as well as Beethoven and Mendelssohn. The program will include Beethoven's Piano Sonatas No. 13 and 14, Mendelssohn's Fantasy, and Chopin's Nocturnes and Piano Sonata No. 3. Especially, the Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3, which he will perform last in this recital, holds special meaning for Richard-Hamelin as it was the piece he played at the 2015 Chopin International Competition. He also received the Christian Zimmermann Award at that competition. The Christian Zimmermann Award is one of the four special prizes at the Chopin International Piano Competition, given to the pianist who performs the sonata best among the participants.

Richard-Hamelin was born in 1989 in Quebec, Canada, and began piano lessons from his father. He studied at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Before the Chopin Competition, he won second place at the 2014 Montreal International Music Competition and third place at the 10th Seoul International Music Competition the same year, where he also received the Best Beethoven Sonata Performer Award.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.