03/06/2022
W***y Postma, Chairman of the Jury sent a review:
The 2022 Korea International Harp Competition (KIHC) was a great success with 15 prize winners
chosen by the jury amongst 151 competitors, following several weeks of intense online watching
and listening.
Congratulations to all the wonderful participants and especially to the prize winners.
I also wish to congratulate Founder and director Jung Kwak, Music Director of the professional harp ensemble of Korea, Harpyday Ensemble, co-director Maria Luisa Rayan, organizer of the 2022 KIHC.
The competition process was demanding for everyone; divided into three age groups, covering
difficult repertoire that included music by Händel, Grandjany, Renie, Parish-Alvars, Liszt, Fauré
and Smetana.
The audition material was intended to imitate the experience of a live performance without cuts.
Professional recording equipment is not available to everyone, but I believe that the jury
succeeded in their mission to always assess each competitor by quality of their playing and
musicianship, not by the quality of their recording.
In the end, the overall level of the competitors was so high that the jury could have wished to
award even more than the 5 prizes designated to each age group.
After some very intense weeks, listening to wonderful harp playing in all its beauty, color, technical
possibilities and expressive qualities, I must conclude that while the pandemic has taken many
things away from our lives, great musicianship remains, all over the world, no matter gender, age,
race or nationality.
Finally, I would like to thank each member of the wonderful jury for their excellent work, their expertise and immense dedication:
Irina Zingg
Nicolas Tulliez
Maria Luisa Rayan
Dan Yu
As Chairman of the Jury, I am grateful for your trust and want to thank you for an exciting
collaboration.
We all look forward to the next KIHC, planned to take place in two years. In the meantime, it is my sincere hope that this competition will continue to inspire and encourage musicians and harp
lovers around the world.
Sincerely Yours,
W***y Postma
