Pianist Lee Hyuk wins Long-Thibaud International Competition

Korean pianist Lee Hyuk won the first prize at the 2022 Long-Thibaud International Competition held in France with Japanese pianist Kamei Masaya on Sunday. Another Korean finalist, Noh Hee-seong, finished fifth. The 22-year-old played Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final contest and won No.1 status.

He went to Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and is taking an Artist Diploma course at Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Lee is also known as a pianist who doubles as a chess player at international chess tournaments. In 2012, he was the youngest pianist to win the first prize at the 8th Moscow Young Chopin Piano competition and the first prize at the Paderewski International Piano Competition in 2016. He also won first prize at the Grand Prix Animato Chopin and France's Animato international piano competition in 2021.

The Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition is an international classical music competition for classical artists that has been held in France since 1943. It was created by the pianist Marguerite Long and the violinist Jacques Thibaud. It produced renowned pianists such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Stanislav Bunin. For Korean artists, pianist Lim Dong-hyeok won the first prize in 2001, and Violinist Shin Zia and bass-baritone Sim Ki-hwan won first place in 2008 and 2011, respectively. In 2012, Ahn Jong-do finished in second place in the competition that did not name a winner.


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