Jeonghwan Kim wins the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition

"The perfect ambassador" wins the Sydney International Piano Competition with performances that brought tears to the eyes of its Artistic Director.

by Jason Blake on 23 July, 2023

In a competition decided over four intense concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House this week and an electrifying final session held on Saturday 22nd July, Korean pianist Jeonghwan Kim was announced the winner of the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize, receiving $50,000.

“It means so much to me to win such a prestigious competition,” said Jeonghwan Kim. “To win first prize is such a rewarding experience, and a motivation to go further and explore more. I was really glad that I was able to connect with the audience, and to share beautiful music during the competition.”

Winner of the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition Jeonghwan Kim.
Photo © Jaimi Joy

The Percy Grainger Second Prize was awarded to Uladzislau Khandohi, with Yungyung Guo receiving the George Frederick Boyle Third Prize.

Reuben Tsang won the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist award.

Piers Lane, Artistic Director of the SIPC, AKA ‘The Sydney’ said: “The consistently high level of the 32 competitors selected from 250 applications for this year’s competition shows clearly that the top young pianists in the world value The Sydney as a master piano competition.

“The six finalists all revealed strong and different personalities and musical approaches and the results reflect the seven international judges’ majority opinion on who best combines deep and original musicianship and pianism, with the ability to communicate and to make music in both solo and ensemble situations.

“[In] Jeonghwan Kim, we have a very complete pianist and artist – quite extraordinary for a young man who turned 23 during the Competition. His virtuosity is astounding, his accuracy in the most complex passages breathtaking. But his The Poet Speaks from Schumann’s Scenes of Childhood brought tears to my eyes. He’s got it all. He will be the perfect ambassador for The Sydney”.

Limelight correspondent Phil Scott was no less impressed by Kim’s virtuosity during the finals, praising the pianist for “sending the music out to us. He was aware of his audience and aware of the orchestra, playing for the former and with the latter, and shaping Mozart’s ideas with clarity and understanding.”

Kim first began playing the piano at the age of six and his numerous first prizes in national competitions led to his admission to the Seoul Arts Centre Academy for Young Talented Musicians aged nine. After moving to to Berlin aged 11, he continued his piano studies under Kyuhee Kim, Leda Kim and Thomas Just. From 2017 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler under Konrad Maria Engel.

Jeonghwan has performed with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, with the Aarhus and Odense Symphony Orchestras, and has given concerts in major halls in Berlin, Weimar, Hamburg and Aarhus, among others.

Pianists from 16 countries competed in this year’s competition which ran over three weeks in July. The Sydney’s competitors were awarded a total prize pool of $207,500 in cash prizes.

As First Prize Winner, Jeonghwan Kim will undertake a national tour of Australia from 25th July to 5th August, plays recitals for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and at London’s Wigmore Hall and record for the Hyperion Records label.

Watch the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition finals here (YouTube).

First published at Limelight Magazine online, July 23, 2023