Pianist Shin Youngho Places Second at Viotti International Music Competition

Performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in the final
Youngest-ever second-place winner at last year's Dublin International Piano Competition

Pianist Shin Youngho, born in 2007, placed second at the 76th Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition, held in Italy.

The Kumho Cultural Foundation announced on October 19 that Shin Youngho, a pianist who came up through the Kumho Prodigy program, placed second at the Viotti International Music Competition, which concluded on October 17 (local time) in Vercelli, Italy. Shin will receive prize money of 8,000 euros (approximately 12 million won).

"I'm happy to have achieved a good result despite the short preparation period," Shin said. "I will show how much I have grown, building on what I learned through the competition."

Pianist Shin Youngho. Kumho Cultural Foundation

The Viotti International Music Competition was established in 1950 in honor of Giovanni Battista Viotti, an Italian composer and violinist. From 1950 to 2005, it was held in both piano and vocal categories in most years. Since 2006, the two categories have been held in alternating years.

This year's Viotti Competition was held in the piano category. Young pianists under the age of 32 took part, and three advanced to the final after the first and second rounds and the semifinal, which began on October 9.

In the final on October 17, Shin performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Milano Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Enrico Fagone. Xi Curtis Phil of the United States took first place, while Maya Oganyan of Russia and Armenia took third.

Shin made his debut in 2021 at the Kumho Prodigy Concert. Last year, he became the youngest-ever second-place winner at the Dublin International Piano Competition and received a special prize at the Pancho Vladigerov International Piano Competition. In South Korea, he has won first prize at the Korea Liszt Competition, second prize at the Ewha-KyungHyang Music Competition, and a silver prize at the Seongjeong Music Competition. He was selected as a scholarship recipient by the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation, the Lee Dae-woong Foundation, and the Samick Art Foundation. Since October, he has been studying with Rena Shereshevskaya at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.

Past winners of the piano category at the Viotti International Music Competition include Daniel Barenboim (1954 Grand Prix), Arnulf von Arnim (1975 first prize), Pavel Gililov (joint first prize in 1978), and Angela Hewitt (joint first prize in 1978). South Korean winners include Lee Miju (1985 first prize), Jung Eunju (1996 first prize), Son Yeoleum, a Kumho Prodigy alumna (2002 first prize), and Lim Hyoseon (2003 first prize). Winners in the vocal category include soprano Song Gwangsun (1980 first prize), soprano Sumi Jo (1986 first prize), tenor Hong Seonghun (2004 first prize), Lee Jaesik (2010 first prize), bass Jo Chanhee (2016 first prize), and tenor Son Jihoon (2002 first prize). In the violin category, Kim Hyunseo, a Kumho Prodigy alumna, placed second in 2024.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.