South Korean pianist Hyuk Lee has won the 10th International Paderewski Piano Competition. The finals of the competition ended on Saturday in Bydgoszcz. Second place was awarded to Jakub Kuszlik from Poland, and the third prize went to Swietłana Andrejewa from Russia.
The winner of the Paderewski Competition is only 16 years old and studies at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In the finals, he performed Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor, op. 18, by Siergiej Rachmaninov. The Korean, like all the finalists, also gave a concert with Ignacy Jan Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra in Bydgoszcz conducted by Tadeusz Strugała.
Two equal distinctions went to Elżbieta Bilicka (Poland) and Dina Iwanowa (Russia).
Kuszlik and Bilicka are students at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the class of Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. Andrejewa is a graduate of Moscow Conservatory and is currently studying at Hochschule fuer Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Iwanowa is still a student of Moscow Conservatory.
The head of the jury, Piotr Paleczny, congratulated all the participants and thanked all of the judges. Beside Paleczny, the performances of the pianists were evaluated by Dmitri Alexeev (Russia/UK), Francisco J. Cruz Plaza (Spain), Ewa Pobłocka (Poland), Matti Raekallio (Finland), Soo Jung Shin (Korea), Jerzy Sulikowski (Poland), Tamás Ungár (Hungary/USA), and Arie Vardi (Israel).