Young Korean Violinist Wins Queen Elisabeth Competition

Published on 2015/06/06 | Source

A 20-year-old Korean violinist won the top prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday.

Lim Ji-young, a final-year student at the Korea National University of Arts who has never studied abroad, received the International Queen Elisabeth Grand Prize and a check for 25,000 euros.

The Queen Elisabeth competition, now in its 75th year, is one of the world's top three classical prizes, along with Russia's Tchaikovsky and Poland's Chopin competitions. It has four disciplines -- violin, piano, singing and composition. The three instrumental competitions are held in alternate years, while the composition contest takes place every year before the instrumental session.

Twelve finalists competed for the coveted prize this year.

As a Queen Elisabeth Competition laureate, Lim will be invited to perform at venues around the world including in Belgium, Poland, Taiwan and the U.S. She will also get to play the Huggins Stradivarius violin for four years on a loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.