Seoul, 10-12.04.2012
On 10th-12th April, Sejong Center in Seoul featured three concerts of the Royal String Quartet. Ingolf Wunder, the second prize winner at the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and a young Korean pianist, Hong-Chun Youn, performed along with the Polish musicians. The repertoire included, among others, works by Fryderyk Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The concerts were held at the Sejong Center, the largest and most prestigious cultural venue in the Republic of Korea. The performance in front of a packed auditorium met with warm reception the Korean audience, who expressed their thanks with standing ovations and enthusiastic comments after the concert.
The concerts were part of the Project Asia, which the Adam Mickiewicz Institute has been carrying out for the past three years, organizing numerous cultural events with the participation of Polish artists in East Asian countries. The event was organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in cooperation with the Sejong Center and the Polish Embassy in Seoul.
Ingolf Wunder (born in 1985) is an Austrian pianist, winner of the second prize at the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 2010, and two special awards: The Warsaw National Philharmonic Prize for the Best Performance of a Concerto and the prize awarded by the Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music for the best performance of the Polonaise-Fantasia in A flat major, op. 61. He has performed in many concert halls around the world, including Berlin Konzerthaus, Wiener Musikverein and Tonhalle in Zurich.
Royal String Quartet has been operating since 1998 and already gained a reputation as one of the most interesting and dynamically developing string quartets. This opinion is confirmed by excellent reviews and prestigious awards at international competitions of chamber music, including the 1st Prize and the Grand Prix in Casale Monferrato (2000), 2nd Prize in Cracow (2003), Special Jury Prize in Kuhmo, Finland (2004) and 3rd Prize in the Canadian Banff (2004).
Hong-Chun Youn has been recognized as one of the most promising and unique pianist of the next generation. After his early studies in Korea, he studied in Boston and Hanover. He is a prizewinner at international competitions such as the Cleveland International Competition, the Concorso Alessandro Casagrande, the Shanghai Piano Competition, and was a finalist at the Busoni Competition, and the Concurs Reine Elisabeth, Brussels. In 2011, he was chosen to receive the prestigious "Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis" from the State of Bavaria, a prize given to young and promising artists.
Programme of the concerts:
10th - 11th April 2012
Part 1
Ingolf Wunder (piano), Royal String Quartet, Tomasz Januchta (double bass)
C. Debussy: String Quartet in G-minor, Op. 10
F. Liszt: Harmonies du soir (Etudes d'execution transcendante)
F. Chopin: Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise Op. 22
Part 2
F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-minor, Op. 11
12th April 2012
Part 1
William Youn (piano), Royal String Quartet, Tomasz Januchta (double bass)
W.A. Mozart: String Quartet in D-minor ( KV 421)
F. Chopin: Nocturne Op. 27 No. 1
F. Chopin: Ballade No. 4 Op. 52
Part 2
F. Chopin: Three Waltzes
Op. 64 No. 2
Op. 69 No. 1
Op. 34 No. 1
F. Chopin: Scherzo No. 1
F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F-minor, Op. 21
Date: 10-12 of April, 2012, 7:30 pm
Venue: Sejong Center, Seoul-si Jongno-gu Sejong-ro 81-3
Organizers: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Sejong Center
Partner: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Seoul
See also: