“When Cho Seong-jin won the Chopin Competition, there were more Google searches for ‘Chopin’ than for ‘shopping.’”

Chopin Institute Director Visits Korea for Competition Briefing Session
“I hope Korea’s outstanding talents will join us at next year’s Chopin Competition.”

“Korea is a country I’m keeping an eye on because it has a lot of talented people. “As the organizers of the Chopin Competition, we came to Korea to hold a briefing session for the competition in the hope that the best talents would participate.”

Artur Szclerner, director of the Polish National Fryderyk Chopin Institute, said this as the reason why the 19th Chopin Competition briefing session to be held next year was held in Korea for the first time. At a press conference held by official partner WCN at Cosmos Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 28th, Director Schclerner said, “In Korea, there are many outstanding musicians (musicians), not only pianists, but also players of other instruments and vocalists, and music education is excellent and many people love music. “I was surprised,” he added.

Artur Szklener, director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, is explaining the direction and challenges of the ’19th International Chopin Piano Competition’ at the Cosmos Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 28th. Newsis

At the same time, referring to the time when Cho Seong-jin (30) won the 17th Chopin Competition in 2015, he said, “I saw the keen interest of the Korean people and thought that there was great potential for the Korean classical music market.” “At the time, ‘Chopin’ was the most popular search term on Google. “It was more popular than ‘shopping,’ so an article came out saying ‘Chopin beat shopping.’”

The Chopin Competition, which started in 1927 to honor Chopin (1810-1849), who is called the ‘poet of the piano,’ and boasts a history of nearly 100 years, is considered the world’s best piano competition and is held every five years. Young performers aged 16 to 30 compete to compete with only Chopin’s pieces. After the Warsaw Music Association (1927-1937), the Polish Ministry of Culture (1949-1955), and the Chopin Institute (1960-2005), the Chopin Institute, a national institution, took over the baton and has been hosting the competition since 2010.

The finals of the 19th Chopin Competition will begin on October 2nd next year with an opening concert by past winners, including Bruce Liu (18th). Prior to this, a panel of judges will select approximately 160 pianists from applicants who applied by January 12th of next year. Afterwards, about 80 people who passed the preliminary round held in Warsaw in April or May will compete for three weeks in the final stage in October, and the winner will be selected on October 20th.

Arthur Schclerner, director of the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute. Newsis

The jury consisted of 16 people, including Gehrig Olsen (76, head of the judging committee) and Dang Tyson (66), the first American and Asian (Vietnamese) to win the 8th (1970) and 10th (1980) Chopin Competitions, respectively. It was packed. Director Schclerner said, “In order to reflect the tastes of the public and various generations, we have also appointed journalists (specializing in the music field) and young musicians as judges,” and added, “We plan to invite Korean musicians and scholars as judges in the future as well.”

The entire competition process will be broadcast live through various media such as the official Chopin Competition website, YouTube, and TV. The winners will perform three gala concerts locally and then tour Korea, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia in November.

Director Schclerner said, “Through the Chopin Competition, I want to convey the message that classical music is truly attractive and can reach all audiences.”

Senior Reporter Lee Kang-eun [email protected]

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