Yeon-Min Park from South Korea is the Big Winner of the Piano Final in the Enescu Competition Closing Gala
Yeon-Min Park was awarded 1st prize in the Piano Final of the 2020/2021 George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest, following a performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30 at the Romanian Athenaeum, on May 23. Adela Liculescu from Romania came second and the third prize went to Marcin Wieczorek from Poland.
Pianist Yeon-Min Park from South Korea won the First Prize of the Piano Section at the end of a Final in which she performed Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30, accompanied by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of the maestro John Axelrod. She also received a Special Mention from the jury for the best interpretation of an Enescu sonata in the Semifinals.
30-year-old Yeon-Min Park is currently studying in Hanover at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien, in the class of Prof. Bernd Goetzke. Among the mentors who guided her – at National University in Seoul or master’s courses – are Aviram Reichert, Dmitri Bashkirov, Menahem Pressler, and Jacques Rouvier. She has performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
The second-place winner, Romanian Adela Liculescu, 28, performed Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor Op. 23. She currently studies in Vienna with Prof. Avedis Kouyoumdjian and in Graz with Prof. Milana Chernyavska, after graduating from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Prof. Martin Hughes. She has performed in concerts and recitals at the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Musikverein Vienna, and Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. She is a laureate of the Prix du Piano Competition in Bern, Brahms International Competitions in Austria and Germany.
The third prize went to Marcin Wieczorek, 24, from Poland, who performed Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op. 11. He currently studies at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz with Prof. Stefan Wojtas. He is laureate of the Palma d’Oro Competition in San Benedetto del Tronto, the Euregio Piano Competition in Geilenkirchen, the Nuova Coppa Pianists Competition in Osimo. He performed in concerts in the USA, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland.
The President of the Piano Section Jury, Cristina Ortiz, announced the results on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum. The other members of the Piano Jury were Dana Borsan, Hyoung-Joon Chang, Philippe Dinkel, Peter Jablonski, Andrei Pisarev, Roland Pöntinen, Josu de Solaun, and Zhe Tang. The jury proceedings have followed a hybrid system: 6 members of the judging panel are in Bucharest and have watched the three concertos live at the Romanian Athenaeum, while 3 others have watched the performances of the young musicians live-streamed online.
The First Prize of 2020/2021 George Enescu International Piano Competition amounts to 15,000 EUR. The winner has also the chance to perform on the Enescu Festival stage, together with some of the most renowned international orchestras, to which special prizes are added as well as opportunities for international promotion. The second prize totals 10,000 EUR and includes as well the opportunity to perform on the Enescu Festival stage for the 2021 edition. The third prize is 5,000 EUR. The total prize value for the Piano Section is 30,000 EUR.
The trophy offered to the three young artists in the Piano Final of the 2020/2021 Edition is made of hand-blown and engraved glass, inspired by the edition’s theme Beauty in Life, and bears the signature of artist Iulia Nastase.
21 young musicians from 11 countries took part in the second phase of the George Enescu International Competition, in a one-of-a-kind edition, for the unfolding of which organizers have spared no efforts in the pandemic context and its effects on the international artistic world.
The big winners of the three instrument sections are 15-year-old cellist Jaemin Han, from South Korea, the youngest winner in the history of the Enescu Competition; 31-year-old violinist Valentin Serban, from Romania; and pianist Yeon-Min Park, from South Korea, 30.
The first prize winners in the cello, violin, and piano sections of the 2020/2021 Enescu Competition are special guests in a concert that will take place at the prestigious Musikverein Concert Hall in Vienna, on October 15, 2021, together with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by maestro Yalchin Adigezalov. This Special Prize is offered by IMK, courtesy of Igor Petrushevski, member of the Violin Section Jury.
Moreover, this year’s Violin Final conductor, maestro Wilson Hermanto, has offered a Special Prize to the 1st place winner of the Piano Final, under an artistic partnership between George Enescu International Competition and Vevey Spring Classic. Pianist Yeon-Min Park has thus been invited to participate in the inaugural edition of the Vevey Spring Classic music festival, which is to take place between May 29 and June 5, 2021, in Switzerland. This opportunity comes with the privilege for the winner to be mentored by one of the greatest living piano players, Francesco Piemontesi, as well as the chance to play alongside great musicians such as Janine Jansen, Nils Mönkemeyer, and Daniel Müller-Schott.
The 2020 George Enescu International Competition has seen its first phase unfold last year, fulfilling the promise to bring Beauty in Life despite the pandemic. The Competition reinvented itself online, marking a premiere in the world of international classical music – the first two rounds were held virtually, to allow the Competition to take place and defy the pandemic. Despite the uncertainty, 205 young artists were able to follow their dream and participate in the Competition between August 29 and September 20, 2020. The last two rounds – Semifinals and Finals – are organized live, in Bucharest, at the Romanian Athenaeum, between 12 and 23 May 2021, with audiences in the hall.
In 2020 the George Enescu International Competition offered much more than music and competition. The message of this edition is Beauty in Life and, in the pandemic context, 2020/2021 George Enescu International Competition has set out to prove that we all have the power to reinvent ourselves while embracing equally beauty and life. In a troubled world, silenced and isolated by the pandemic, we have created a model of resilience based on our longing for beauty in life, vital to our humanity.
The campaign spot is accessible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxuylvvHHWQ
George Enescu Competition is an international platform for launching future world-class musicians and for promoting the compositions of the great Romanian composer to the new generation of artists from all over the world. It is thus a natural extension of the George Enescu Festival, the most important cultural event organized in Romania. The Competition has four sections – violin, cello, piano, and composition – and it ranks in the top five classical music competitions worldwide.
