Kim Jung-hwan wins Yun Isang International Music Competition, takes audience prize too

Three years after lifting a winner's trophy at the Sydney Opera House, pianist Kim Jung-hwan, 26, has claimed the top prize again — this time in Tongyeong, the hometown of composer Yun Isang. Kim is based in Berlin.

The Tongyeong International Music Foundation announced Sunday that Kim had won first place in the piano division of the 2026 Yun Isang International Music Competition. In the final that day, Kim performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra under conductor Kim Dae-jin. Kim also took the UNESCO Creative City of Music Special Prize, decided by audience vote, earning recognition from both the jury and the public.

At the awards ceremony, Kim said the competition had been especially meaningful because preparing for it allowed him to explore in depth the works of Yun Isang and other composers of his era, as well as those who influenced Yun. Kim also expressed gratitude to those who cheered him on in the concert hall and online.

Kim began playing piano at age 6 and attended the Seoul Arts Center Music Prodigy Academy before moving to Germany at 11. From 2017, he studied under Konrad Maria Engel at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. He has won the Aarhus International Piano Competition in Denmark and the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin, and placed at the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan. His breakthrough on the international stage came at the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition, a quadrennial event. In the final, he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 and Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2, sweeping first place and two special prizes.

Second place went to teenage pianist Lee Ju-eon, who also received the Park Sung-yong Young Talent Special Prize, awarded to a promising Korean performer. Lee had already made a mark this year by winning the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the junior division of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in the United States in quick succession, and finishing second in the junior division of the Cleveland International Young Artists Piano Competition. The win marks Lee's first podium finish at a World Federation of International Music Competitions member event.

Park Hae-rim took third place and Robert Vili, a pianist holding German and Czech nationality, finished fourth. Park also received the Yun Isang Special Prize, given to the competitor who most outstandingly interprets Yun's works. Park had performed Yun's solo piano piece "Interludium A" (1982) in the second round.

This year's competition drew a record 215 applicants from 21 countries. Of those, 23 advanced through the document screening to compete on stage. The competition opened Oct. 31 and concluded Saturday with the final round.