Double bassist Ryu Si-heon wins First Prize at International Bottesini Competition

Double bassist Ryu Si-heon was awarded First Prize and the Under 25 Prize at the ninth edition of the International Bottesini Competition on Sunday.

Double bassist Ryu Si-heon [KUMHO CULTURAL FOUNDATION]

Double bassist Ryu Si-heon was awarded First Prize and the Under 25 Prize at the ninth edition of the International Bottesini Competition on Sunday.

Ryu, who was born in 2005, is the first Korean to win the Italian competition.

He will take home 1,000 euros ($1,078), a Nolli double bass worth 30,000 euros and a Bogaro & Clemente bow case.

The competition, named after the legendary composer, conductor and double bassist Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889), was founded in 1989 by the Italian double bass soloist Franco Petracchi to recognize double bass players all over the world.

It tends to be held once every two to four years.

Past notable recipients are Giuseppe Ettorre, Cristophe Dinaut and Dariusz Mizera. Korean double bassists Hwang Jun-bin and Kim Hyung-ju won Third Prize in 2019 and 2022, respectively.

This year, young performers between the ages of 18 and 35 competed against each other by playing songs by Bottesini. Ryu performed “Concerto for Double Bass No. 2 in B Minor” on the final stage on Sunday. The Second Prize was given to Johann Warzecha and Third Prize to Eva Brockhaus.

Ryu debuted through the Kumho Prodigy Concert in 2019 and performed at the Kumho Young Artist Concert in 2022. He has won several accolades, including No. 3 at the KBS Kepco Music Competition, No. 1 at the North International Music Competition and No. 1 at the Korea Kontrabass Association Concours.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]