China’s Chen Yunjie took home the top honor at the Isang Yun Competition 2010 Sunday in the coastal city of Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province.

The 29-year-old Juliard-trained pianist performed Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 with the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Chung Chi-yong to beat five other contenders during the nine-day piano competition.

Second place went to Lake Como Conservatory’s Alessandro Deljavan of Italy, while third prize went to Moscow Conservatory’s Elmar Gasanov of Russia. Lee Ju-eun of Munich College of Music and Kim Sung-pil of the Peabody Conservatory of Music shared the fourth-place prize.

During second round qualifications, Japan’s Akihito Okuda was honored with the special prize for a segment that called for entrants to perform Isang Yun’s music while the award given to emerging Korean pianists the Park Sung-yong award went to Kim Hong-ki of the Korea National University of Arts.

A total of $72,000 was given to the top five finalists with the opportunity to perform annually at the Tongyeong International Music festival.

The competition is held annually as part of the festival that celebrates Yun, a well-known composer, as part of the event.

The competition also featured famed Belgian-Israeli pianist and professor at the Royal College of Music Edna Stern and internationally renowned classical pianist Yundi who held master classes.

Chen won the first prize in China’s National Piano Competition at age 12.

He has since performed throughout China and internationally, including a performance with the SBS Television and Radio Youth Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

By Song Woong-ki (kws@heraldcorp.com)