Baritone Kim Tae-han Wins 'Queen Elisabeth Competition'... First Asian Male Vocalist Champion

Kim Tae-han (22) won first place at the Belgium 'Queen Elisabeth Competition,' one of the world's three major classical music competitions, held this year in the vocal category.

Baritone Kim Tae-han won the Queen Elisabeth Competition, one of the world's top three vocal competitions, announced on the 4th (local time). Kim Tae-han on the final stage held on the 2nd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 4th (local time), at Bozar in Brussels, Belgium, Kim Tae-han was announced as the winner among 12 finalists in the vocal category final of the '2023 Queen Elisabeth International Competition.'

Following Choi Ha-young's victory in the cello category last year, Kim Tae-han's win this year marks two consecutive years of Korean performers dominating the competition. The Queen Elisabeth Competition, organized by the Belgian royal family, is held annually in rotation among piano, cello, vocal, and violin categories.

Since the vocal category was introduced in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1988, Kim Tae-han became the first Korean and the first male vocalist from Asia to win the title.

Kim Tae-han graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and is currently studying at Seoul National University College of Music under Professor Na Geon-yong. He debuted in September last year with the 'Kumho Young Artist Concert.' Currently enrolled in the expert course at the National Opera Studio of the National Opera Company, Kim Tae-han is set to join the opera studio of the Berlin State Opera in Germany as a member for two years starting this September.

Previously, he demonstrated his skills by receiving special awards at the Vi?as International Singing Competition in Spain, the Riccardo Zandonai International Vocal Competition in Italy, and the Stimmen Competition in Germany last year.

Baritone vocalist Kim Tae-han (23) won first place in the vocal category at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition held in Belgium.
[Photo by Kumho Art Hall]

The final stage of this competition featured 12 finalists and was held over three days from the 1st to the afternoon of the previous day. Finalists were required to perform between three and six pieces, including at least one opera aria in two or more languages.

In the final held the day before, Kim Tae-han performed four pieces, including 'O Carlo, ascolta' from Verdi's opera Don Carlo and 'Meine Sehnsucht, meine Wahn' from Korngold's Die tote Stadt. Notably, he captivated the judges by flawlessly performing Verdi's piece, typically sung in Italian, in the French version.

Among the world's three major music competitions, alongside Poland's Chopin Piano Competition and Russia's Tchaikovsky Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition has had four Korean winners in its history: Hong Hye-ran (vocal, 2011), Hwang Su-mi (vocal, 2014), Lim Ji-young (violin, 2015), and Choi Ha-young (cello, 2022).

This year’s vocal category competition saw 64 finalists, including 18 Korean vocalists. The participation of soprano Cho Soo-mi as a judge added special significance to the event.

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