Took first place in the ‘Daegeum’ sector in Korea’s most prestigious concours celebrating its 34th anniversary
Kwon Min-chang won the overall grand prize in the Daegu Gugak Music Festival
[July 17, 2018]
<YU College of Music (major in Korean Music) students won the gold and silver at the daegum sector of the 34th Donga Gugak Concours.>
(Top, YU College of Music Major in Korean Music Daegeum (large bamboo flute) advisor Lee Young-seop, bottom left to right, Kwon Min-chang, Kim Yoon-woo)
YU College of Music students majoring in Korean music won first and second place in the daegum sector of the 34th Donga Gugak (traditional Korean music) Concours.
They are YU College of Music seniors Kwon Min-chang (23, gold) and Kim Yoon-woo (25, silver) who major in Korean music (instrumental music). The judges said that Kwon Min-chang’s creative piece had an easy-going flow and the sounds were mature, while saying that Kim Yoon-woo’s music composition was excellent.
The two students are already famous among traditional musicians. Kwon Min-chang, who won the gold at the Donga Gugak Concours, made news by taking the overall top (Minister of Culture and Sports Award) at the regular session of the 28th Daegu Gugak Music Festival’s National Gugak Competition last year. The overall first place goes to the best musician in all sectors such as instrumental music, pansori, dance, folk music and pungmul. Furthermore, at the Hwasun Jeokbyeok National Gugak and Yeongsanjakbeop Competition on July 15 of this year, he won first place as well (Governor of Jeonnam Award)’. Kim Yoon-woo, who won silver, was recognized for his skills in the daegeum collaboration with the Daejeon Yeonjeong Korean Traditional Music Center last year.
The Donga Gugak Concours was first held in 1985. It is a prominent competition that discovered many talented musicians who are now leaders of the traditional Korean music sector in Korea such as Professor Heo Yoon-jung of Seoul National University, Professor Yoo Young-joo of the Korea National University of Arts, and Professor Lee Young-seop of YU. This concours, which was hosted by Donga Ilbo and the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts and sponsored by Lotte Group, held its preliminaries and finals from June 9 to June 30. A total of 43 musicians were awarded in nine sectors (composition, pansori, vocal music, geomungo, flute, daegeum, haegeum, ajeng) and seven sectors for students (excluding composition and ajeng).
