Violinist Park Sue-ye wins prestigious Sibelius competition
South Korean violinist Park Sue-ye has won the 13th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, one of the most prestigious competitions for the instrument in the world.
Park was announced as the first prize winner of the competition, which took place in Helsinki from May 19 to 29, according to the competition's website Friday.
"I am so happy to have won the competition," she was quoted as saying by her agency, Mok Production.
"It means a lot to me, and I was delighted to be able to communicate through my music to the very end," she said.
Park received a cash prize of 30,000 euros (US$34,000) and was also rewarded with a loan of a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini made in 1777. Minami Yoshida received the second prize, while Claire Wells took third.
The 25-year-old became the second South Korean violinist to win the quinquennial contest founded in 1965 for young violinists under age of 30. In 2022, Yang In-mo won the competition.
Born in 2000, Park began playing the violin at the age of 4 and made her debut at 16 with a recording of Niccolo Paganini's 24 Caprices. In 2021, her album "Journey Through a Century" was selected as the Editor's Choice and among the Recordings of the Year by Gramophone.
In a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency later Friday, Park said winning the competition had not hit her yet.
"I think it will take a few more days before I realize I've won this," Park said. "I have seen other South Koreans win prizes from afar, and I am grateful and honored to win this competition as a Korean."
Park acknowledged that she grew up feeling the weight of expectations as a young prodigy, but she was surprisingly relaxed ahead of the Sibelius competition.
"I told myself I should just go do my thing because I knew how hard I'd prepared for it," Park said. "I wanted to stay focused on my own music."
Park said she picked up violin because she fell in love with the sound of the instrument as a child. After getting her start with a toy violin, Park said her career goal now is to have people keep coming back to her.
"I'd like to become a violinist that people want to hear over and over again, after the end of my performance," she said. "I want to soothe people in ways that words can't and I hope people will feel happy after listening to my music. I want people to say, 'I loved the way you played,' even if they may not be able to express their feelings in exact words." (Yonhap)
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