POLAND-ENTERTAINMENT/CHOPIN South Korean Seong-Jin Cho wins 17th International Chopin Piano Competition

Record ID: 134720

  • Title: POLAND-ENTERTAINMENT/CHOPIN South Korean Seong-Jin Cho wins 17th International Chopin Piano Competition
  • Date: 21st October 2015
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (OCTOBER 21, 2015) (REUTERS? ?***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF? WARSAW PHILHARMONIC HALL, VENUE OF INTERNATIONAL CHOPIN PIANO COMPETITION FINALISTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHOPIN PIANO COMPETITION ENTERING THE HALL AUDIENCE APPLAUDING FINALISTS WAITING FOR THE COMPETITION RESULTS DIRECTOR OF THE FRYDERYK CHOPIN INSTITUTE (RIGHT) ADAM SZLENKI
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1P42PEX6R61LWE9DOG0H6E27J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korean Seong-Jin Cho was announced the winner of the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition on Wednesday (October 21) night.
    The decision came after several hours of deliberations by a 17-person international jury of the prestigious and career-paving Chopin Competition, which offers concerts in the world's best-known halls and recording contracts to the winner with a 30,000 euro prize.
    Seong-Jin has become the first South Korean to win the competition, which takes place every five years and is considered one of the world's most prestigious competitions for classical pianists.
    The second prize went to Charles Richard-Hamelin of Canada and the third to Kate Liu of the United States.
    At a news conference after the announcement of the winner, Seong-Jin said he had dreamt about taking part in the competition since he was a child.
    "I just listened to the Chopin competition in 2005 when I was 11 years old, and at that time Rafal Blechacz and Dong-Hyek Lim and Dong-Min Lim became my idols, so it became my dream to participate in the Chopin Competition and I can't believe this moment," he told a news conference.
    The prize winners are to perform at gala concerts on October 21-23.
    A total of 78 young pianists from around the world have spent three weeks playing technically demanding preludes, nocturnes, mazurkas and sonatas by Frederic Chopin during a series of concerts. The finalists performed one of Chopin's two piano concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic orchestra.
    The competition dedicated to the works of Poland's greatest composers started in 1927 and has been held every five years since, except for a period during World War II.
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