Sydney International Piano Competition Announces Winners

Korean pianist Jeonghwan Kim was given the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize, receiving $50,000

The Sydney International Piano Competition (SIPC) recently came to a close at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Pianists from 16 countries competed in this year’s competition and the competitors were awarded a total of $207,500 in cash prizes.

Korean pianist Jeonghwan Kim won the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize, receiving $50,000. Additionally, 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.

“It means so much to me to win such a prestigious competition,” said 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.”

“[In] Jeonghwan Kim, we have a very complete pianist and artist – quite extraordinary for a young man who turned 23 during the Competition," said Piers Lane, Artistic Director of the SIPC. "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”.

Uladzislau Khandohi won the Percy Grainger Second Prize and Yungyung Guo received the George Frederick Boyle Third Prize. Reuben Tsang won the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist award.

You can watch the final rounds of the competition, here.

A graduate of the Seoul Arts Center Academy for Young Talented Musicians, Kim studied with Kyuhee Kim, Leda Kim, and Thomas Just, and moved to Berlin at the age of 11. Since 2017, he has been studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in the class of Professor 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. He has won the first prize Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Conservatory Competition (Berlin, Germany), Fourth Prize and Audience Prize at the Sendai International Music Competition (Sendai, Japan), and First Prize at the Aarhus International Piano Competition (Aarhus, Denmark).