Music fans were lucky enough to hear the wonderful playing of Korean concert pianist Jung Eun Severine Kim, a 2016 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition prizewinner, on Saturday January 14. She had also appeared in Rye Arts Festival in September 2016.
The concert took place in the building which used to be the stables of Fairlight Hall and now is a beautiful space for music.
It is not a surprise that Jung Eun, 23, was a prizewinner as she managed to make the piano sing and do whatever her fingers wanted to express. From such a slight frame she brought about an amazingly powerful sound and her face expressed each mood whether slow and emotional or rousing – it was magical and inspirational. Her performance included Haydn’s Piano Sonata in E flat Major, 3 Sonetti de Petrarca by Liszt, and Schumann’s Fantasiestucke Op12.
Jung Eun Severine Kim was born in 1994 in Seoul, South Korea and had her first piano lesson at five years old. In 2003 she studied at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted. She has since notched up a number of prizes and achievements in national competitions and has given many concerts and recitals across Europe, South Korea and Japan.
In the interval concert-goers were encouraged to visit the shop in the Fairlight grounds, which sold a variety of local products.
For more information about the 2017 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, taking place from February 23 to March 4, and accompanied this year by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, visit hastingsconcertocompetition.co.uk
Photos by Heidi Foster