Oberlin Student Wins Third Prize at Prestigious Wieniawski International Violin Competition By Marci Janas '91
			Ui-Youn Hong, a first-year violin performance major and a student of Assistant Professor of Violin Kyung Sun Lee, won third prize in the junior division of the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition for Young Violinists, held in Lublin, Poland, in September. Hong, who is 16 and from ChungJu in Korea, played Vieuxtemps' Concerto No. 5 for the finals, in which she competed with nine violinists for the top prizes. Her Paganini Caprice No. 5, Bach Sonata No. 3, and Wieniawski Caprice had lifted her out of the preliminary pool of 60 participants, and she played Waxman's Carmen Fantasy and Mozart's Sonata for Violin and Piano, K. 301, for the semifinals. One of the perks of being a top prizewinner was an invitation to perform at the competition's gala concert, held in Wieniawski Hall. She played the Waxman and the Wieniawski. "This competition is known as one of the bigger and more difficult international violin competitions, especially in the junior division," says Lee. "Many well-known European violinists – Maxim Vengerov, for example -- have won the Wieniawski." Hong began her studies at Oberlin last year as Lee's private student; the two met in Korea three years ago. "She teaches me to find the music in myself," says Hong of her teacher. "Oberlin is a wonderful place to study music, especially with all of the artists who come here to perform." One of those artists, violinist Ida Haendel, who appeared in concert in November under the auspices of the Artist Recital Series, was herself a Wieniawski finalist, in 1935, at the tender age of seven. Hong was, understandably, in attendance at the concert and at Haendel's master class. The Wieniawski is not Hong's inaugural success. She won first prize in the 2000 I-Wha National Competition and in the 2001 Korean Times National Competition, both held in Seoul. A 2001 graduate of the YeWon School of the Arts, she has performed as soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic and the Korean Symphony orchestras.
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