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국립심포니오케스트라(KOREAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA)

KNSO International Conducting Competition As Korea’s only international conducting concours, the KNSO International Conducting Competition was established to assemble a new generation for the podium. The first competition was held in 2012, participated by 166 candidates from 42 countries, garnering worldwide interest in the competition. It takes place every three years and accepts anyone from the ages of 23 to 35 of all nationalities. The total prize money amount tallies to KRW 80 million, and the winners will have a chance to work as an associate conductor with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra at various stage venues.
2021 KNSO국제지휘콩쿠르 결선 사진1
2021 KNSO국제지휘콩쿠르 결선 사진2
2021 KNSO국제지휘콩쿠르 결선 사진3
Elias Peter Brown (b. 1995 / The USA)

  • First Prize & Orchestra Prize

Los Angeles-born conductor Elias Peter Brown began his studies of conducting at age 17 in St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating with honors from Yale University and the Royal Academy of Music, he became a laureate of the Khachaturian International Conducting Competition in 2021, receiving the Third Prize. He also recently took the Second Prize in the inaugural Lake Como Conducting Competition. Elias has led the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Berliner Symphoniker, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble MusikFabrik, Ensemble Modern, Zafraan Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, and St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic.

As an assistant, he has prepared orchestras for Oliver Knussen, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, Jac van Steen, and Andreas Stoehr. Fiercely passionate about arts education, Elias has been a regular teaching artist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, worked as a guest conductor at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, and as a mentor for the art and community-building project ‘Gakko’ in Japan and France. Also an accomplished trumpet player, Elias has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, and principal trumpet at Chicago Symphony Hall, The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Mariinsky Theatre, and Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall.

His principal teachers are Sian Edwards and Daniel Boico, and he has appeared in masterclasses with Marin Alsop, Mark Stringer, Robert Treviño, Alexander Polishchuk, and Martyn Brabbins, among others. Elias has also received mentorship from Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gerard McBurney. In autumn 2021, he will begin advanced studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin under the tutelage of Steven Sloane and Harry Curtis.

Hankyeol Yoon (b. 1994 / Republic of Korea)

  • Second Prize & Audience Prize

Born in Daegu, South Korea in 1994, Hankyeol Yoon worked as a Kapellmeister at the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra from 2019 to 2021. Previously he worked as an assistant conductor at Staatstheater Nürnberg, Grand Théâtre de Genève and at Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra/Heidenheim Opera Festival. He is currently a scholarship holder of Dirigentenforum.

In 2019 Hankyeol Yoon, at the age of 25, became the youngest winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize (the first prize of the conducting competition) from the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland. As the prizewinner, he is invited to conduct the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Bern Symphony Orchestra.

Hankyeol Yoon is currently one of the finalists at the German Conductors’ Award 2021. Previously he was a finalist(4th place) at the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in 2020, received the third prize at the Hans von Bülow Conducting Competition 2021, and third prize at the German Music Competition “CAMPUS Conducting” 2018 in Nürnberg.

He recently conducted such orchestras as Basel Chamber Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Staatskapelle Weimar, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, and Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra.

From 2011 to 2021, he studied conducting (Marcus Bosch, Georg Fritzsch and Alexander Liebreich), composition(Isabel Mundry) and piano (Yuka Imamine) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München, and completed bachelor’s and master’s program there.

As composer Hankyeol Yoon won the second prize at the Luciano Berio International Composition Competition in 2020, the second prize at the TonaLi composition competition in Hamburg in 2018, the third prize and the audience prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2017, the second prize at the Varel Composition Competition in 2016, the second place at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2015, and the third prize at the Günter Bialas Composition Competition in 2015. He is one of the comissioned composers at the Peter Eötvös Foundation in Budapest since 2019.

Linhan Cui (1994 / China)

  • Third Prize

Linhan Cui was born in Shenyang, China. Linhan started as a conductor since 2012 when she was the only accepted conducting student at Guangzhou Xinghai Conservatory. Ms. Cui completed her undergraduate studies at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou. She earned her master degree from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, now she is a Doctor of Musical Arts student in orchestral conducting at Indiana University, College-Conservatory of Music.

Linhan appointed to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, USA as conducting fellow for the 2019-2020 season, where she worked as Marin Alsop’s cover conductor.

Linhan has been instructed by many famous conductors such as Marin Alsop, Arthur Fagen and Ming Liu. Ms. Cui assisted more than 50 concerts during her assistant career, working with many world-renowned maestros such as Leon Fleisher and Xian Zhang.

Linhan has conducted Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Xinghai Symphony Orchestra, Xinghai Chamber Orchestra, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Chamber Orchestra, and participated in a masterclass with USA National Symphony Orchestra, etc.

In 2021, Linhan won the second prize in Malko International Conducting Competition.