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| ▲ This photo, provided by Kumho Cultural Foundation, shows cellist Han Jae-min. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- The Kumho Cultural Foundation reported Friday that cellist Han Jae-min (15) won the special Rose Marie Huguenin prize and finished third in the cello category at the 75th Geneva International Music Competition, which ended in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday (local time).
Han was ranked third after playing Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor with the Swiss symphony orchestra, The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, on the final stage at Victoria Hall in Geneva.
The 15-year-old cellist will receive 8,000 Swiss francs (about 10 million won) in prize money, and will also have a chance to sign a two-year overseas concert tour and a two-year management contract with Promusica, an agency for Geneva International Music Competition winners.
For this year's music competition, 36 cellists from 18 countries have been selected to participate and after a total of three competition rounds, only three finalists were selected for the final round.
Cellist Michiaki Ueno (26) from Japan was ranked first, followed by Canadian cellist Bryan Cheng (24) in second place.
Founded in 1939, the Geneva Competition is aimed to discovering talented young musicians, who are under the age of 29, and supporting their international career. The competition alternates between eight disciplines: piano, flute, clarinet, cello, viola, string quartet, voice and percussion, while the composition competition is held every two years. the composition category is held every two years.
Previous Korean winners of the Geneva Competition include cellist Chung Myung-wha (1971), pianist Mun Ji-yeong (2014), and music composer Cho Kwang-ho (2013). The prize winner from Korea for the cello division comes 50 years after Chung Myung-wha. came out 50 years after Jung Myung-hwa.
Han won first place in the David Popper Cello Competition in 2017, the Dotzauer Cello Competition in 2019, and was also the youngest winner in history to finish first at the George Enescu Competition Bucarest in May.
After studying violinist Chung Kyung-wha and cellist Lee Kang-ho at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts, Han is now studying under professor Lee Kang-ho at Korea National University of Arts.
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