Violinist Lim Ji-young has made her way back home after becoming the first Korean violinist to win the highest honor at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Belgium last May, performing Brahms’ Concerto in D, op. 77.

One of the classical world’s big three music competitions, last year’s Queen Elisabeth contest for violin featured 69 players of 20 nationalities, including 17 violinists from Korea.

“It has been almost a year since winning at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and since then, it has just been nonstop traveling and performing,” said Lim, 21, during an interview with The Korea Herald at the Kumho Art Hall in Seoul. 

“The whole competition was very surreal. I was very proud that I could be the first Korean to win as well. But to be honest, I wasn’t constantly bombarded with thoughts about having to win, I just paced myself and took everything one day at a time,” she continued.

“Did I honestly think I would end up winning the competition? Absolutely not. Although I think every competitor has this suspicion during competition that maybe they could win. But even though I did have some moments when I thought it could be possible to win, that was merely to keep myself hopeful.” 

Lim’s win comes after a series of international accolades for the locally trained up-and-coming prodigy. She won the top prize at the Euroasia International Competition in Japan and the MIMC Prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition in 2013. In 2014, she was also a laureate of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, winning the Mozart special prize.

Lim first picked up the violin at the age of 7 and it became instantly apparent to those around that the young girl was a musical prodigy. The violinist studied at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts and made her local debut at the tender age of 14 as part of the Kumho Art Center’s prodigy program.

The musician continued her studies with Kim Nam-Yun at the Korea National University of Art. 

As a Korea National University of Arts student, Lim’s international success comes as something of a surprise as the young violinist has received no overseas training -- a rare accomplishment as many of the country’s most noted local musicians were trained abroad.

“It’s true that I’ve never studied abroad, but I don’t think that is the key to success,” she says. “I think it’s all about the dedication and passion you have for your craft.”

“Lately there’s been a lot of Korea musicians who have made it far or even won many international music competitions, and I think one of the things that makes Korean musicians stand out against musicians from other countries is our emphasis on discipline.

“Of course there are great musicians all over the world and they practice and work relentlessly, but I think Korean musicians, more than others, truly dedicate everything to achieving success. I think that’s why we are seeing a number of local musicians starting to make names for themselves overseas by competing in competitions.”

As for Lim’s future competition endeavors, she said, “I have no more interest in participating in any more contests in the future.”

On Thursday night, Lim will be teaming up with local pianist Dasol Kim in a duet concert performance, “Beautiful Thursday Festival of Violin,” at the Kumho Art Hall in central Seoul. 

Lim and Kim will jointly perform Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 8 in G major, Stravinsky’s Divertimento for Violin and Piano, Prokofiev’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in F minor and Szymanowski’s Nocturne and Tarantella for Violin and Piano, Op. 28.

As the grand prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, Lim was not only entitled to a cash prize of 25,000 euros ($27,400), but was also granted a four-year loan of the “Huggins” Stradivarius violin, created in 1708 by the master himself, Antonio Stradivari.

Lim is slated to perform with the “Huggins” in her upcoming concert.  

Ticket prices to the upcoming concert are 40,000 won ($33) for adults and 9,000 won for youths. For more information, call (02) 6303-1977.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)