Pianist Park Jin-hyung Wins 1st Place at Spain's 'Premio Jaen Concurso'

"Focus on the Moment of Performing on Stage Rather Than the Outcome"

Pianist Park Jin-hyung (27) won first place at the 64th Premio Ja?n International Piano Competition.

Pianist Park Jin-hyung.
[Photo by Kumho Cultural Foundation]

On the 23rd, Kumho Cultural Foundation announced that Park Jin-hyung received first place and the chamber music special prize at the 64th Premio Ja?n International Piano Competition, which concluded on the 22nd (local time) in Ja?n, Spain.

Park Jin-hyung said, "Having studied abroad for a long time and experienced many moments of success and failure, I was able to focus on the moment I performed on stage rather than the competition results," adding, "Thanks to that, I was able to naturally perform the pieces I love."

He also cited the most memorable moment as when he performed Debussy's 'Images' Book 1, No. 1 during the first round. He stated, "It was a moment when only the music and I remained on stage, without any trembling or afterimages."

Park Jin-hyung will receive a first prize cash award of 20,000 euros (approximately 29.17 million KRW) and a special prize cash award of 8,000 euros (approximately 11.66 million KRW). Additionally, as a first-place winner privilege, he will embark on a concert tour in Ja?n, ?beda, M?laga in Spain, and Bochum in Germany.

The second place was awarded to Ryusei Horiuchi (20) from Japan, and the third place went to Iv?n Basi? (27) from Hungary.

Pianist Park Jin-hyung.
[Photo by Kumho Cultural Foundation]

The Premio Ja?n Competition is the longest-standing international music competition in Spain. It was founded in 1953 as an organization called 'Premio Club Alpino' and expanded into a competition in 1955. It is held annually for young pianists under the age of 32.

Past Korean winners include Ian Jung (joint 3rd place in 1989), Hwang Sung-hoon (2nd place in 2001), Lee Joo-eun (2nd place in 2006), Yoo Jae-kyung (3rd place in 2010), Lee Mi-yeon (2nd place in 2012), Jung Da-seul (3rd place in 2015), Cha Soo-jin (2nd place in 2016), Kim Hong-gi (1st place in 2018), Lee Jin-hyun (2nd place in 2018), and Park Yeon-min (3rd place in 2022).

Park Jin-hyung graduated from Yewon School, Seoul Arts High School, and Yonsei University, and is currently enrolled in the master's program at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, studying under Arie Vardi.

Debuting as a pianist from the Kumho Young Artist program, Park Jin-hyung became the first Korean to win the piano category at the 2016 Prague Spring International Music Competition. He made his international debut in 2017 with a collaboration with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, and actively performed, including a solo stage at the 2017 Prague Spring International Music Festival.

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