Chong Park

park 2

“Considerable personality and elegant musicality”
Bernard Holland – The New York Times

The first Korean Pianist who performed the complete Etudes d’exécution transcendante by Liszt, pianist Chong Park began his fame as a Liszt Specialist. He recorded the complete Etudes d’exécution transcendante, 6 Paganini Etueds, the b minor Sonata and many other great works by Liszt. Studied with a legendary Russian Pianist Lazar Berman, in Imola, Italy, and also at The Juilliard School in New York, with Seymour Lipkin, pianist Chong Park began his career at age of 15, with his debut with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, playing Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto. Born in Seoul Korea, Mr. Park began playing the piano at age of 5, the violin at age of 3. Since the debut, he has performed with The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and almost every major orchestras in Korea, and many well known foreign orchestras as well such as St. Petersburg symphony, Brno Philharmonic, Slovakian philharmonic, Concentus
Hungaricus Budapest, I Virtuosi Italiani, Sanremo symphony orchestra, Kaunas chamber orchestra and so on. Chong Park is also a renowned composer in Korea. In 2015, his first piano concerto, which was a huge success, was composed and premiered at Seoul Arts Center, playing himself as soloist, with Korean Symphony Orchestra. His compositions are often heard in TV dramas, documentaries and from many radio stations. His activities go beyond a normal pianist’s: playing as an actor in TV drama series, a radio DJ of Korean National Broadcasting system and narrator and host of a documentary film. The first prize winner of SANREMO CLASSICO 2000, Sanremo, Italy, Mr. Park extends his performing activities in Italy and Europe playing regularly in many festivals and seasons in different venues around the world., including The Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, Teatro Olimpico of Roma. Mr. Park plays chamber music with some great artist from the world. He has given acclaimed concerts with Richard Stolzman, Charles Neidich, members of Berlin Philharmonic Ensemble to name a few. His Performances also have been broadcasted numerous times through RAI (Italian national Broadcasting company) and of course KBS(Korean national broadcasting company) and uncountable local TV and Radio Stations. He has been actively performing as a member of Duo Vivid, a four hands duo formed with a prominent pianist Chiharu Aizawa. This husband and wife duo’s creative arrangements and performances are very distinguishable from other ordinary piano duos. They have recorded and premiered many original transcriptions of four hands piano pieces. He has recorded more than 20 albums from various labels and is now head of piano department at Yonsei Univ., Seoul, Korea

YEKYUNG HONG foto

Pianist Yekyung Hong graduated from Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School, and then went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree at Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany, where she received the highest practical score in all semesters and graduated with the unanimous highest grade from the jury. She subsequently earned a Master’s degree at Seoul National University College of Music, and then pursued her doctoral studies at Yonsei University College of Music, where she performed at the opening ceremony of the Yonsei University Chamber Hall and served as a research faculty member for Yonsei University’s Learnus course, demonstrating deep interest in music research as well as performance. She completed her DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) as a Teaching Assistant and full scholarship recipient from the Samil Cultural Foundation.
She has won first prizes at the Malopolska International Music Competition in Poland, North International Music Competition in Sweden, Città di Massa International Music Competition in Italy, UK International Music Competition, and Franz Liszt Center International Music Competition in Spain. She also placed second at the Orbetello International Piano Competition in Italy and third at the Royal Mass International Music Competition in the Netherlands, along with top prizes at numerous prestigious competitions including the Korea Times Music Competition, Music Education Newspaper Competition, Music World Competition, Seoul Art Competition, Seoul Music Competition, Seoul Orchestra Competition, Haneum Music Competition, New Music Competition, New Talent Competition, and Hayley Music Competition.
She has performed at numerous venues in Korea and abroad, including Schloss Borbeck in North Rhine-Westphalia, Museum Folkwang, Duisburg Konzertsaal, Essen Folkwang Kammermusiksaal, Neuer Saal in Germany, Erba in Italy, Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Hall Yonsei, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul Art Center, Yonsei University 140th Anniversary Concert, Cheongdam Gallery d’Arte, and Mozart Hall.
She has participated in masterclasses with Hardy Rittner, Christopher Hinterhuber, and Rolf-Dieter Arens, and has participated in and performed at music festivals including Gumi Music Festival, Courchevel Music Alp Festival in France, Saline Royale Academy in France, Tenerife Music Festival in Spain, Livorno Music Festival in Italy, and Weimar Meisterkurs in Germany.
Pianist Yekyung Hong has studied under Professors Chong Park, Hyung-jun Jang, Young-ho Kim, and Thomas Günther. She has served as a guest lecturer in arts convergence education at So-myeong Girls’ High School and as a piano instructor at Chungbuk Arts High School for the Arts and Hana High School. She is currently teaching at Gyewon Arts Middle School, dedicating herself to nurturing the next generation of musicians as an educator, while actively performing as a member of the Korea Music Association and Ensemble Duo Aube.

PIANO MASTER CLASS WITH CHONG PARK

Piano
14 August – 22 August
Enrolment

The course will be dedicated to the study and improvement of the great concert repertoire. 
The timetable and the operation of the course will be defined by the professor according to the composition of the class.
Each pianist is entitled to 6 lessons: 4 with Maestro Chong Park and 2 with Professor Yekyung Hong.
One selected pianist enrolled in the course will have the opportunity to record a piece of any length for a single album for a worldwide release from all major music platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify and etc., provided by Ruby’s polka label of Korea.
Languages spoken in the course: English, Italian, Japanese, Korean.


The organization reserves the right to make some scholarships available to the most deserving students, to be assigned at the end of the course and at the discretion of the teachers.
For all information regarding registration methods and fees click HERE.
For the SELECTIONS “Perform as a Soloist with the Orchestra” and “Perform with the Artists” in the concert program of this year’s Festival click HERE.