Korean Violinist Seohyun Kim wins 2022 Cooper Competition at Oberlin

By Laurie Niles: South Korean violinist Seohyun Kim has been named the winner of the 11th annual Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, which took place Aug. 15-19 at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio. BELOW: Seohyun Kim's recital final with pianist Tatiana Lokhina. The competition, which had been on hiatus for two years due to the pandemic, began with 17 violinists from nine states and six countries. On Friday, three finalists performed concertos with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, directed by Gerhardt Zimmermann. Those finalists have each been offered a four-year full-tuition scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory of Music, predicated on a successful application process. Here are placements of the finalists:

• First Prize ($20,000,): Seohyun Kim, 13 of Soul, South Korea
• Second Prize ($10,000): Sameer Agrawal, 17 of Chicago, U.S.
• Third Prize ($5,000): Calvin Alexander, 17 of Shreveport, La., U.S.

L-R: Thomas Cooper, Calvin Alexander (3rd place), Seohyun Kim (1st place), Sameer Agrawal (2nd place), and Evon Cooper.

Kim, who began playing the violin at the age of five, currently studies with Sunny Lee at the Seoul Central Conservatory. She has received mentoring from Pavel Vernikov, Ulf Wallin, Min Kim, Clara Jumi Kang, Qian Zhou, Clara Cernat and Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici. In 2021 she was a semifinalist in the Menuhin Competition. As first prize winner at Cooper, Kim will also receive a two-year partnership with MKI Artists with up to 10 concerto or recital engagements in the U.S.; as well as exclusive rights to the world premiere of a new six-minute work for violin and orchestra by Jeff Scott and two years of performances. She also will receive a two-year loan of a rare Italian violin from Jonathan Solars Fine Violins of New York. Founded in 2010, the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition takes place annually, alternating between piano and violin. The competition is open to musicians between the ages of 13 and 18. The jury for the 2022 competition consisted of Oberlin violin professor and competition director Sibbi Bernhardsson, Danielle Belen from the University of Michigan, Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet, and John Zion of MKI Artists. You might also like:

• Eric Charles Chen Wins the 2019 Cooper International Violin Competition
• Johan Dalene Wins 2017 Cooper International Violin Competition
• Scenes from the 2016 American Viola Society Festival at Oberlin

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