Young Artist student, Jonathan Shin Zi Yang
Alumna, Hannah Lim Kyoo-hye
Singaporean Jonathan Shin Zi Yang clinched third prize in the Young Pianists Division of the 18th Ibiza International Piano Competition held at the Centro Cultural de San Carlos, Ibiza, Spain from 1 to 7 September 2008.
Having turned 16 a few days before the competition began, he studies under the direction of Dr Thomas Hecht in the Young Artist Programme at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and is currently a secondary four student at the Raffles Institution.
Jonathan’s placing follows closely in the footsteps of fellow compatriot Abigail Sin who took first prize in the prestigious Spanish event earlier in 2005. The Competition, founded in 1987 in honour of Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of Greece, this year accepted pianists from 22 countries from around the world. Jury members included George Hadjinkos (Chairman, Greece), Tatiana Franova (Slovakia), Tomislav Nedelkovic-Baynov (Germany), Giovanni Doria-Miglietta (Italy), Mary Wu (China) and María Angeles Ferrer Forés (Spain).
Jonathan is a former student of Madam Fang Yuan at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Young Talents. He has long been a frontrunner of competitions, having won third prize in the 2003 National Piano and Violin Competition (junior category) and second prize in the same biennial event (intermediate category) in 2005. He has performed internationally at the 27th European Piano Teachers Conference in Manchester, 2nd World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Slovenia, in addition to recitals in Bangkok and in the 2007 National Day’s joint Singapore Symphony Orchestra-Singapore Chinese Orchestra festivities. Eminent artists for whom he has performed in masterclasses include Vladimir Viardo, Luis de Moura Castro and the late Mark Ray.
Another student of Dr Hecht, Korea-born Hannah Lim Kyoo-hye, was awarded Special Mention with Honours for finishing in fourth position in the Senior Division. A National Arts Council-Conservatory music scholar, Hannah graduated this July with a First Class Honours and came in top of her cohort. She is now on a full scholarship pursuing her Master of Music (Piano Studies) at the Peabody Institute and is a student of Yong Hi Moon.