Han Dong-il (photo), the first-generation pianist who was the first Korean to win an international music competition, passed away on the 29th at the age of 83.
He was the first Korean to win an international competition by winning the 24th Leventritt International Piano Competition in 1965, where Leonard Bernstein (1918?1990) was the chairman of the jury. In 1973, he was awarded the Order of Civil Merit (Moran Medal).
Born in 1941 in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, he started playing the piano at the age of three under the influence of his father. His father was a church choir conductor and also played timpani for the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (now Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra).
His father moved south to Seoul in 1946, and thereafter, Han Dong-il took piano lessons every day from pianists such as Kim Seong-bok (former professor of piano at Ewha Womans University), Lee Ae-nae (founding dean of the Sookmyung Women's University College of Music), and Shin Jae-deok (former dean of Ewha Womans University College of Music). He had exceptional talent, able to immediately play songs he heard on the piano, and by the age of eight, he performed with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
With the help of Samuel Anderson (1905?1982), former commander of the US Forces Korea, he went to the United States. Commander Anderson saw him practicing on a piano in the auditorium of the US 5th Air Force Command in Hyehwa-dong in October 1953 and arranged a tour of performances for him at US military bases in Korea and Japan. The money raised from these concerts enabled Han to travel to the US with Commander Anderson on June 1, 1954. Although overseas travel was strictly prohibited for those who had not completed military service at the time, this was made possible by a special order from President Syngman Rhee.
On July 25, 1954, he appeared on CBS TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show," introduced as a piano prodigy from Korea.
He entered the Juilliard Preparatory School in New York in 1954 and received scholarships through his bachelor's and master's degrees, completing his master's in 1968. In June 1958, he toured the Far East, performing in Hawaii and Japan before holding a solo recital upon returning to Korea. In 1962, he performed at the White House at the invitation of President John F. Kennedy (1917?1963).
Starting in the fall of 1969, he taught students at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in the US, and over the next 37 years, he nurtured future musicians at Texas State University, Illinois State University, and the Boston Conservatory. He permanently returned to Korea in 2019 and served as a distinguished professor at Ulsan University and Suncheon University. He continued performing until recently.
The funeral will be held at the Severance Hospital funeral hall in Sinchon, Seoul, on January 1 of next year.
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