High Spirits at the Éva Marton

Competitions

30 September 2024

The Éva Marton International Singing Competition in Budapest celebrates its 10th Anniversary

Tenor Jihoon Park won the 30,000 euros first prize at the of the 6th Éva Marton International Singing Competition organized by the Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Baritone Mihai Damian finished second winning 20,000 euros, while the third prize of 10,000 euros went to mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu. Éva Marton awarded her personal special prize of 10,000 euros to soprano Alexandra Zotova, and the audience award went to soprano Yeeun Yeu.

By the deadline in August, 106 female and 90 male singers from thirty-two countries around the world had applied for the competition. 54 singers were approved by the preselection jury which was chaired by Éva Marton herself.

Jihoon Park earned both his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Korea National University of Arts, in 2022. He has won many awards including First Prize in the Korean Voice Competition and the Sung-Jung National Music Concours.

His operatic debut took place with “Die Zauberflöte” where he performed Tamino (at the CJ Art Hall in Seoul). Since then he has performed as Rodolfo in La Bohème and as Tito in La clemenza di Tito. In addition, he has perfomed in Händel’s Messiah (Seoul), and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (Busan).

At the results announcement of the competition, Éva Marton expressed her great joy that such enthusiastic and great singers attend every competition, adding that from more than 900 applicants 500 people have entered the competition so far since 2014. She said it was important that the event was not just a festival, but that it was also something creative by nurturing talent. "The Liszt Academy is my alma mater, where I always enter with faith and love, and even though I have worked in some of the world's most important theatres, I will never forget it," she added, and told that the jury is made up of people with whom she has a relationship for decades and who have helped her in his career.

Prize:
1st prize: Jihoon Park (33), Seoul
2nd prize: Mihai Damian (28), Cluj Napoca
3rd prize: Hongni Wu(29)

Jury:
Éva Marton, Anatoli Goussev, Petra Mario Katona, Miguel Lerin, Andrea Melath, Szilveszter Okovacs, Christina Sheppelmann, Vittorio Terranova, Dmitry Vdovin

Artists:
Orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera / Péter Halász

©︎ WFIMC / FR 2024