[Stage Voices] Increasing Applicants for K-International Competitions

At around 8:50 PM on the 10th, at the Harmony Hall of the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall. While waiting to interview the three conductors from Germany and the United States who won awards at the finals of the 2nd National Symphony Orchestra (KNSO) Conducting Competition held that day, a KNSO official shared their thoughts on completing the second edition of the conducting competition. They recalled that a certain domestic organization had once held a conducting competition only once and then ended it, saying, "When we held the first competition three years ago, our goal was to hold a second competition." Expressing pride in successfully completing the second competition, they said the next goal is to successfully hold the third competition three years from now.

In South Korea, which can still be considered a peripheral player in the global classical music market, hosting a conducting competition in 2021 was, in a way, a bold challenge. However, the number of applicants increased from 166 participants from 42 countries in the first competition to 224 participants from 44 countries this year. This means that a seed capable of becoming a foundation for the growth of the domestic classical music market has been properly planted.

The day before, on the 9th, the finals of the Isang Yun International Music Competition were concluded at the Concert Hall of the Tongyeong International Music Center in Gyeongnam, and the winners were announced. The Isang Yun International Music Competition, honoring the world-renowned composer Isang Yun (1917?1995), who was born in Tongyeong, began in 2003 and marked its 21st edition this year. It has grown into a competition of global stature, having become a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC), a UNESCO-affiliated organization, in 2006?the first in Korea to do so. The competition is held every three years in three categories: piano, violin, and cello, with this year's category being violin. The number of applicants this year was 140 from 26 countries, a 36% increase compared to 103 applicants from 24 countries in 2021. Last year’s piano competition had 183 participants from 26 countries, a 19% increase compared to 154 participants from 19 countries in 2019 (the competition was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19). The number of cello applicants nearly doubled from 74 participants from 23 countries in 2018 to 146 participants from 27 countries in 2022.

In 2020, the Lotte Cultural Foundation also took its first step by hosting an international organ competition. The second competition was held last year, with the number of applicants increasing from 69 participants from 17 countries in the first competition to about 100 last year. Led by the Tongyeong International Music Competition, which represents Korea, recently launched competitions have also been achieving results one after another.

On January 25 next year, the 30th-anniversary performance of the original musical Myeongseong Hwanghu (Empress Myeongseong) will open at the Grand Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. When Myeongseong Hwanghu premiered in 1995, the domestic musical market was almost a barren land. However, the bold challenge of an unproven original musical 30 years ago became a precious seed that has grown Korea into one of the top five musical markets in the world today. Last year, the domestic musical market recorded an all-time high revenue of 459 billion KRW.

With world-renowned performers such as Cho Seong-jin and Lim Yoon-chan emerging one after another, global interest in Korean classical music is steadily increasing. Yoon Han-gyeol, the only Korean awardee produced by the KNSO Conducting Competition (2nd place in the 1st competition), is growing into a conductor attracting worldwide attention, debuting this year on the stage of the Salzburg Festival, the world’s premier classical music festival. It will be worth calmly observing what kind of fruits the newly launched competitions in Korea will bear decades from now.