Winners of the 2021 Busoni International Piano Competition have just been announced. Jae Hong Park, a 22-year-old pianist from South Korea, takes home the first prize, which includes a cash prize of €22,000.
Jae Hong Park is the first prize winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition for Young Artists and the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. He was also a Finalist Prize winner at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition and the fourth-prize winner of the Ettlingen International Competition. He is currently studying at the Korea National University of Arts under Prof. Daejin Kim.
The second prize winner, Do-Hyun Kim, is also from South Korea. He will be taking home a cash prize of € 10,000.
Kim moved to the United States to earn his Bachelor’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with HaeSun Paik and Sergei Babayan. He continued his studies with Mr. Babayan at The Juilliard School, earning a Master’s in 2019, and is heading back to the Cleveland Institute this year to pursue an Artist Diploma. He received a special prize for best performance in the semi-final round of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. In 2017, he received the top prize at the Vendôme Piano Competition in Switzerland. In the same year, he was awarded first prize at the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, along with special prizes at the Auditions.
The third prize went to Austrian pianist Lukas Sternath, who will be taking home a cash prize of €5,000.
Sternath was born in Vienna, and is currently studying in the class of Prof. Anna Malikova at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he began his bachelor’s degree in 2019. As of October 2021, he will continue his studies with Prof. Igor Levit at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. He won several prizes at numerous international piano competitions, including the 2nd prize and audience award at the European Piano Competition Bremen (2021), 1st prize at the “Classic on Danube” International Piano Competition (2019), and 4th prize at the 16th International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition (2018).
Below is the entire list of the 2021 prizewinners.
The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition was launched on 12 September 1949, this year’s competition is its 63rd edition. To learn more about the competition, click here.
