Korean-German pianist wins Bartók World Competition 2025
Jeonghwan Kim was awarded with the first prize of €22,000 after Sunday's orchestral final at this year’s Bartók World Competition organised for pianists at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.
Second place was shared by Spain's Gorka Plada and Ildikó Rozsonits, each earning €8,000 while third place, worth €8,000, went to Russia's Anastasiia Kliuchereva, based on the decision of the prestigious international jury. The jury also awarded special prizes: Jeonghwan Kim won the €4,000 prize for the best Bartók interpretation and the €2,000 prize for the best performance of contemporary works from last year's composer round, which were included in the competition repertoire. The audience prize of €1,500 was awarded to Ildikó Rozsonits by the audience attending the final.
Thanks to donations from the competition's partners, a number of additional special prizes were also awarded. Jeonghwan Kim received concert invitations from the Liszt Academy of Music, the Szeged and Miskolc Symphony Orchestras, and the Hungarian Radio Artistic Ensembles. Ildikó Rozsonits received the Papageno media package and performance opportunities from Müpa, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Hungary, while Anastasiia Kliuchereva received an invitation from the Savaria Symphony Orchestra. Sebestyén Pellet, who reached the solo final, received the Fidelio Fortissimo prize, which includes media coverage and concert invitations from the Bartók Memorial House and the MÁV Orchestra.
In the orchestral final held on Sunday in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, Anastasiia Kliuchereva played Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, while Gorka Plada and Jeonghwan Kim played the No. 2, meanwhile Ildikó Rozsonits choose Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (in E-flat major) with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gergely Dubóczky, after the originally invited conductor János Kovács was forced to withdraw due to illness.
