By Xu Aiying and Kim Hayeon

Violinist Yang In-mo is the first Korean to win the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition.

The virtuoso on May 29 won first prize at the 12th edition of the competition in Helsinki, Finland, and received an award for best interpretation of modern music.

Yang beat out five other finalists over three days to win. Second place went to Nathan Meltzer of the U.S. and third to Dmytro Udovychenko of Ukraine.

One of the world's top violin competitions, the event was named after Finnish composer Jean Sibelius to mark his 100th birthday in 1965. The contest is held in Helsinki once every five years for violinists under age 30.

Yang received a cash prize of EUR 30,000 (KRW 40 million) and a non-fungible token trophy, a first for the competition. He will also get the opportunity to collaborate with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.    

Through his management agency Credia, he said, "I'm happy about the good result that reflects my hard preparation," adding, "I think I will visit Finland more often and am glad that this will greatly help my activities in Europe and overseas career."

Making his debut performance in 2008 at Kumho Young Artist Concert in Seoul, Yang is a graduate of Korea National University of Arts and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He is now studying for a master's at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin in the German capital.

xuaiy@korea.kr