Controversy arises over the outcome of the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Korean violinist; “Political considerations at play”

– A Korean violinist who advanced to the finals of the Queen Elizabeth Competition. From left to right: Yoo Da-yoon, Choi Song-ha, Ana Lim. Captured from the Queen Elizabeth Competition website.
– “Real winners stolen of their awards for political reasons”
– In the Queen Elizabeth Competition that ended on the 2nd (Korean time), amidst the victory of Ukrainian violinist Dmytro Udovichenko (25), there is a growing controversy over whether political considerations affected the judging results.
– Initially, three Korean violinists advanced to the finals of this competition, generating interest in whether a Korean musician could achieve a three-peat in this competition, but unfortunately, none of them placed in the rankings.
– Udovichenko, who was announced as the winner of the violin category in the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Competition, received continuous criticism in the comments section on the competition’s official Instagram account. Comments stating that the real winners were robbed of their awards due to political intentions garnered over 200 likes.
– Posts mentioning 4th place Kevin Choo and the unranked Choi Song-ha claiming they were robbed of their awards received multiple likes. Although these comments gained significant support, many of them appear to have been deleted now.
– Some arguments claiming that Udovichenko’s victory was influenced by political considerations are based on speculation that, given the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Udovichenko, being Ukrainian, received support from the judging panel. There are also remarks pointing out situations where Udovichenko played a violin concerto by Russian composer Shostakovich in the finals and allegedly refused to shake hands with Russian violinist Vadim Repin, who was on the judging panel during the awards ceremony. However, congratulatory messages stating that Udovichenko deserved to win continue steadily. Udovichenko had previously won the Montreal Competition last year.
– While no Korean performers made it to the rankings on this day, two Korean descent musicians were awarded. The 3rd place went to Ellie Choi (23, Korean name Choi Yoo-kyung) and 5th place to Julian Lee (24), both based in the United States.
– Ellie Choi, born to Korean parents as an environmental engineering researcher and pianist in San Diego, started playing the violin at four years old. She gained attention as a musical prodigy early on and has been featured multiple times in the South Korean media. In 2009, she appeared on a talk show on NBC in the U.S., and subsequently enrolled in the Preparatory Division of the Juilliard School of Music in the same year. She then majored in Economics and Philosophy at Columbia University following her time at the Juilliard School.
– The total of 12 finalists in this competition consisted of 6 from the U.S., making it the highest, 3 from Korea, 1 from Japan, 1 from Ukraine, and 1 from Kazakhstan.
– Established in 1937, the Queen Elizabeth Competition is commonly referred to as one of the world’s top three competitions alongside the Chopin Piano Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition. It alternates annually between vocal, violin, piano, and cello categories. Last year’s winner was baritone Kim Tae-han, and in 2022, the winner was cellist Choi Ha-young, the sister of Choi Song-ha.