In 2021, at the renowned International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn, young Korean pianist Hans Suh not only won First Prize, but also the Audience Prize and two further special prizes. One of the members of the jury was Yaara Tal, who, the previous year, had been honored with the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize along with her piano duo partner Andreas Groethuysen. Recipients of the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize are asked to select a young artist as Festival scholarship holder for the following year. As far as Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen were concerned, the choice was clear: Hans Suh had impressed them with “his playing in an artistic class of its own.” They particularly recalled “the clarity and marked poignancy of his expression, combined with the refined, poetic sensitivity of his touch.” Hans Suh will certainly display those qualities once again on the occasion of his Ruhr Piano Festival début in Holzwickede.