Hwang In-Yu of the School of Korean Traditional Arts Wins the President’s Award at the National Gugak Festival

Hwang In-Yu, a current student in the graduate program of the School of Korean Traditional Arts, won the President’s Award by playing Kim Byung-ho Gayageum Sanjo at the 38th National Gugak Festival at the Shilla Cultural Festival 2020. The National Gugak Festival, which seeks transmission and preservation of the Korean traditional music, is a gateway to becoming a master artist, master singer, master dancer for young talents. The festival has three divisions – student, the general public, new face – and each division has competitions in winds, string, folk song, dance, and percussion. 

Winner Hwang In-Yu decided to start her music life as a gayageum player after joining the Jeollabuk-do Children’s Gugak Symphony Orchestra. Later, she entered the Jeonju Fine Arts Middle-High School to major in gugak. Currently, she is a graduate student in the School of Korean Traditional Arts. She received her bachelor’s degree in the same faculty. At the award acceptance speech, Hwang said, “Studying at the Korea National University of Arts has been my long-time dream and pride. I have had precious training opportunities from great professors and instructors for the past six years, and they helped me grow up as a musician. With this award, I will refresh my mind and continue to train and improve my playing skills.”