Youbien Lee wins first prize at the 2025 Isang Yun Competition
The 25-year-old South Korean cellist and Eisler graduate Youbien Lee from Prof. Troels Svane's class won first prize and the audience award ‘UNESCO City of Music Special Prize’ at the internationally renowned Isang Yun Competition 2025 in Tongyeong, South Korea. The first prize is endowed with prize money of KRW 30,000,000 (approx. £17,700), and the audience prize with KRW 2,000,000 (approx. £1,080). The awards come with several concert engagements, including solo performances with renowned South Korean symphony orchestras such as the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra.
Youbien Lee received her first cello lessons in 2004, was a junior student at the Korea National Institute for Gifted in Arts and completed her bachelor's degree at the Korea National University of Arts with Prof. Kangho Lee and Prof. Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. In 2022, she transferred to the Eisler for her master's degree and graduated in 2025 with Prof. Troels Svane. She received further artistic inspiration from masterclasses with internationally renowned cellists such as Csaba Onczay, Li-Wei Qin, Jens Peter Mainz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Danjulo Ishizaka.
Lee has already achieved numerous competition successes, including first prize and a special prize at the 2021 David Popper International Cello Competition in Hungary, as well as first prizes at the 47th JoongAng National Music Competition and the 30th Sungjung National Music Competition in the same year. In 2023, she was awarded the South Korean Young Rising Player Prize, and in 2024 she won third prize at the Buchet International Cello Competition in Belgium. As a soloist, she has performed with the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cheongju Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Korea National University of Arts, among others.
The Isang Yun Competition, held annually in Tongyeong, South Korea, is one of the most important music competitions in Asia. Every three years, the competition focuses on a different category, alternating between piano, violin and cello. This year, it took place from 1 to 9 November at the Tongyeong Concert Hall. The competition is named after the composer Isang Yun, who was born in Tongyeong in 1917, died in Berlin in 1996 and is considered an important cultural bridge builder between Asia and Europe. The city of Tongyeong has held the title of UNESCO Creative City of Music since 2015.