Cast
Ji-Young Lim — Violinist (First Prize of the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Competition)
Sumi Hwang — Soprano (First Prize of the 2014 Queen Elizabeth Competition)
Seong-Jin Cho — Pianist (First Prize of the 2015 Chopin Competition)
Chloe Jiyeong Mun — Pianist (Winner of the 2015 Busoni Competition)
Yoon-Ji Kim — Pianist (Finalist of the 2016 Queen Elizabeth Competition)
Esmé Quartet
Wonhee Bae — Violinist
Program notes
Over the past 20 years, classical music has enjoyed a resurgence in East Asia, particularly in South Korea, where it has captured the imagination of younger generations. The craze is so widespread that people now talk about K-Classics, just as they do about K-Pop, the Korean pop music that has taken the world by storm over the past decade. It is no longer rare to see South Korean musicians winning first prize at the most prestigious competitions in the West. Soprano Sumi Hwang, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2014, has conquered the world's greatest venues, from the Frankfurt Opera to the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels, and performs regularly at the prestigious Seoul Arts Center. As for violinist Lim Ji-young, who won the Brussels competition in 2015 at the age of just 20, she was one of the few artists invited to perform at the historic inter-Korean summit in 2018.
