Kudos! Our talented young ones
.jpg?w=728)
By Park Moo-jong
The future of a nation largely depends on the growing younger generation. No one would dare challenge this truth.
No matter how difficult people’s lives are today, our young ones’ good deeds make us smile and bring us happiness.
It was young men in their 20s who impressed the people deeply as they expressed a strong determination before anyone else to fight against North Korea at the time of a possible military clash between the two Koreas in August.
Amid a flood of bad news of late, such as the ideological conflict over who should write history textbooks and the devastating droughts, the people “could be” jubilant over some good news from abroad last week about young men’s brilliant achievements.
As reported in headline news across the world, the 21-year-old pianist Cho Seong-jin became the first Korean musician to win the coveted International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.
The 17th edition of the world’s greatest piano music contest, held every five years in Warsaw, Poland, the home of Chopin (1810-1849), saw history being made again as Polish President Andrzej Duda presented the gold medal to the South Korean prodigy.
It is no doubt that Cho’s splendid feat clearly testifies to the fact that classical music in Korea has already reached a high standard on the world stage.
To date, the Chopin competition has a track record by having produced such big names as Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman. Argerich from Argentina was back in Warsaw as one of the past laureates on the 17-member jury.
When Cho touchingly said that his dream to appear on stage until he dies may come true thanks to the power of the competition, our young boys under 17 were on a roll at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile as they finished first in the preliminary round to qualify for the round of 16.
The young players wrote Korean soccer history by being the first Koreans to clinch first place in a preliminary round of any FIFA event. The young men’s brilliant achievements abroad are like a breath of fresh air for the people who have been fed up with stubborn economic woes and shameless all-or-nothing feuds in the political world.
The success of the youngsters in the arts and sports offers a good lesson to the older generation about our young people’s growth.
As for the education of their children, Korean parents’ zeal has been unrivaled in the world and it produced competitive human resources that have engineered the country to achieve remarkable economic growth from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War to the admiration of the world.
However, mothers have been overly involved in educational issues thus weakening public education at school and instead allowing private education to flourish.
When the 10 finalists of the Chopin Competition were waiting for the results, most of them, except for Cho, were together with their families. The winner was alone. His mother was indeed in the concert hall but was staying away from her son because she did not want to receive the spotlight.
His father later said that “Seong-jin’s mother was watching him at a distance throughout the preliminaries to the announcement of winners because it is Seong-jin who plays piano.”
In fact, his parents are famous as “shadow parents” who let their son study for himself without coming forward, remaining behind him as supporters only. His father is an ordinary construction company employee and his mother is a housewife.
In comparison, behind the musicians who enhanced the national prestige in bygone days were enthusiastic and devoted parents; or children who inherited the musical genes of their parents. But the formula is changing now.
The Chopin concours winner is the representative case. His parents only helped their son to grow for himself. They stayed in the background.
The late Ms. Lee Won-sook was a figure like the symbol of a devoted mother. She trained the Chung Trio _ cellist Chung Myung-wha, 71, violinist Chung Kyung-wha, 67, and pianist-conductor Chung Myung-whun, 62. She emigrated to the United States for her children. She was famous for keeping seats in concert halls where her daughters were to perform.
Those who inherited musical talent from their parents include cellist Chang Hanna, 33, whose mother is a composer, while the father of violinist Sarah Chang, 35, is a violinist and her mother is a composer.
The new classical musicians of today generally grow independently from their parents. Pianist Son Yeoleum, 29, flew to Moscow alone to attend a concours when she was 14 years old as an elementary pupil. She recalled that “my mother, a high school teacher, said she could not give up her job only to support me.”
Pianist Kim Sun-wook, 27, who rose to the international stardom after he won the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition, drove his car to concert halls. His father is an elementary school teacher.
Pianist Moon Ji-young, 20, winner of this year’s Busoni International Piano Competition, is from a poor family. Her father is a recipient of basic living. Her passion and effort have earned her fame as the winner of the famous competition.
The young musicians also owed their success considerably to the new system for the education of talented hopefuls.
Kumho Asiana Culture Foundation, founded in 1977, must be honored first for its decades-long efforts to support gifted young people. Since 19989, the foundation recruited about 1,000 talented children under 14 to provide them with chances to perform. Cho, Son, Kim and Moon are all from the group.
Similar systems are necessary in other fields to produce talented young ones to survive the ever-intensifying international competition. Kumho is a good example for other enterprises, either big or small, to take a lesson from.
The young are much better patriots than the older ones in the top hierarchy of the nation whose patriotism is only from the teeth outward.
We cannot help but lavishly praising the young musicians, sportsmen and other talented young ones for their achievements.
Park Moo-jong is the Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the daily from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the paper since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.co.kr.