14-year-old Korean violist ranks No.1 at Johannes Brahms Competition

14-year-old Korean violist ranks No.1 at Johannes Brahms Competition. September. 12, 2017 07:36. by Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com. Violist Lee Eun-bin ranked No. 1 in the viola category at the 24th Johannes Brahms International Competition held in Poertschach, Austria on Friday. At the contest that has no age limit, Lee joined as the youngest musician and received eval‎uations from the referees as "having fine techniques and outstanding expressiveness."

Lee is currently a sophomore at Yewon School in Seoul and is also attending the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts. The Johannes Brahms Competition debuted in 1993 and is held every year in six categories including piano, violin, viola, cello, singing and chamber music.

Meanwhile, oboist Ham Kyeong has become the first Korean who ranked No. 2 in the oboe category at the 66th ARD International Music Concour in Munchen that ended Sunday. This year’s competition has no No. 1 ranking. This is the first Korean victory in seven years in the pipe music category since flutist Kim Su-yeon ranked second in 2010. Ham was nominated as the youngest senior oboist at the Staatsorchester Hannover in Germany in January last year, and became a regular oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands in August this year.