Korean wins conducting competition
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Conductor Park June-sung / Courtesy of Aram Khachaturian International Competition
By Yun Suh-young
South Korean conductor Park June-sung was awarded the top prize for conducting at the 12th Aram Khachaturian International Competition held in Armenia, along with Miran Vaupotic from Croatia.
Park also won the competition’s three special prizes ― Orchestra Award, Best Interpretation of Aram Khachaturian and the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra Special Prize. The two winners will split a cash prize of $10,000 and receive opportunities for concert engagements until 2018.
The competition was held at the country’s capital Yerevan June 6-14. The winners were announced through the website.
The Aram Khachaturian International Competition, which was established in 2003 in commemoration of the 100th birthday of Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, has been held June 6-14 every year since its foundation. The competition is hosted jointly by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, the Aram Khachaturian Competition Cultural Foundation and the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. The competition aims to identify talented young musicians in piano, violin and cello. This was the first year the competition was open to conducting.
Conductor Park June-sung moved to Germany at age 16 and studied piano at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart in Germany. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in orchestra conducting at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Austria.