Korean pianists have been making their mark in the classical music scene in recent years, securing some of the biggest prizes in major competitions.

Of them is pianist Park Jae-hong who won the Busoni Competition in 2021. 

The young pianist joined TouchBaseinSeoul to tell us about himself. 

"Being competitive is a bit paradoxical. Because one should seek a child-like simplicity or even be naive so that you don't pursue a competition, a concert or being a more famous pianist. 

"But you must always continue to stay on the most modest, humble way to serve music. At some point, being competitive can be a bit of a disturbance in doing so."  

"Nowadays, I am slowly realizing that sometimes you have to let go of your competitiveness and try to just enjoy and have this naive simplicity to pursue only music." 

And about his experience winning the Busoni competition, he realized competitions are really about luck.

"So I started to think about it this way. It's not a competition but a festival. I am guaranteed one concert there.... I think to myself, Jae-hong you are not going on a competition, you just go there and play your music, you are guaranteed one concert, if you are lucky you get one more..."