Guillermo Hernández Barrocal (left), age 18 (Spain) — Second Prize Senior Division
Yurim Kim (right), age 17 (South Korea) — Third Prize Senior Division & Audience Prize
ClevelandClassical.com: Congratulations to you both.
Both: Thank you. Thank you very much.
CC.com: It was a pleasure to hear both of you. How did you deal with nerves throughout the competition? (They spar over who should go first.)
Guillermo Hernández Barrocal: Well, first of all, I’m very focused on practicing. So if you’re focused and you have clear goals, you know what you’re doing, it makes things easier We also had a wonderful atmosphere at Hazel — the dorm. We were all living together. We were having meals together, sharing music, learning from one another. We have 24-hour cabins with pianos we can play whenever we want. Then we can talk, we can relax. I like to take very long walks. Helps me think.
CC.com: And you, Yurim?
Yurim Kim: I like spending time with another contestant who is my friend, and we stay in the same dorm rooms. Cleveland is a wonderful city, so I was really happy during the competition. We had so much fun and ate all our meals together.
GHB: We were doing silly things with music and the pianos and the museums here are wonderful, world-class. I love painting and the arts, and they’re just wonderful spaces to discover
CC.com: How did you go about choosing your repertoire?
YK: For me I wanted to choose many different styles of pieces. So I chose Mozart, Schumann, and Prokofiev. In the final round, my favorite composer is Chopin so I choose him. And for the Mendelssohn Trio I picked number one.
GHB: I did the exact opposite. I only played Schumann and Brahms throughout the competition. And there are two reasons. I wanted to make it personal. And I’ve been focused on Germanic Romanticism lately. I like to do a bit of everything, but I’ve been focused on that. And I’m playing those pieces for recitals soon. I’ve had a long journey especially with the Schumann concerto and Carnaval, and I wanted to bring the strongest and very best pieces of my repertoire. I consider myself a 19th century soul and it represents me very well. But of course, variety is always the best but these pieces are so close to my heart.
CC.com: In the Chamber Music Round, did you enjoy working with Jinjoo Cho and Max Geissler?
YK: Yes, it was a really wonderful time, and they play really professionally. It was such a pleasure.
CC.com: Yurim, you played Mendelssohn D minor.
YK: I like Brahms number one, but I love Mendelssohn. And my teacher told me that for this competition you need to play Mendelssohn, so I picked that.
CC.com: Why did you choose the Brahms, other than it’s your favorite piece?
GHB: There is actually a reason. Sorry, I’m trying to come up with something a bit different than it’s just close to my style. I like the sense of maturity of the work. It’s a very early piece, but he revised it pretty late in his life. It’s perhaps his best chamber work.
YK: I heard that when Mendelssohn was like 20 something, he was really happy when he wrote this trio. So I felt really happy to perform it with Jinjoo and Max.
GHB: They’re wonderful professionals and it’s just a joy to share music on the stage.
YK: Jinjoo is really famous in Korea.
CC.com: Did you enjoy the Master Class Round?
YK: It was really special time with Jean-Yves. It’s a little bit hard for me to change in a short period of time.
GHB: I played the Brahms Sonata. Of course it’s challenging, but I tried to make the most out of this unique opportunity. I had never seen Monsieur Thibaudet give a master classes. It’s a challenge. There’s pressure. It’s a competition. But it’s also a very fresh idea. And it’s interesting to be judged in this way because the way one reacts reveals many things about their personality. I just tried to make the most out of it.
CC.com: You’ve both played concertos before, but Yurim, why did you choose Chopin No.1?
YK: I needed to choose a new one, because I didn’t play any of the concertos that were on the competition list. But my favorite composer is Chopin so I chose the first concerto. It’s a really special piece for me. I especially like the middle part that is like singing.
CC.com: You and the orchestra sounded beautiful together.
YK: Thank you.
GHB: And she got the audience award.
CC.com: That’s right. Thank you for reminding me.
YK: I also listened to his Schumann Concerto — it was really nice.
GHB: I had a long journey with that concerto. I first played it when I was 13, I think.
I think it was the third concerto I learned. I had actually played a few concertos from the list, but Schumann was clearly my personal favorite because of the experiences I’ve had with it — I played it when I was 13 and I played it again when I was 16.
YK: Now he’s 18.
GHB: It was the obvious choice — the culmination of this journey so far that I’ve had with the concerto. And I’m still looking at the future and more things that I can do with it. My goal is to keep learning until my very last breath. And with this concerto, it’s guaranteed that I’ll be doing so.
CC.com: Guillermo, the little cards say that you play tennis and collect Rubik’s Cubes: How many Rubik’s Cubes do you have?
GHB: I have too many. Actually, it’s not that bad. I mean, around 30. It’s a very old interest of mine. I was able to solve a Rubik’s Cube before I ever touched a piano. I started solving them when I was five or six, and I started playing the piano when I was eight. And I do tennis. I also love surfing. If I had to choose, I would say surfing. There’s a nice analogy about flowing with nature. The waves are things that are out of our control.
CC.com: Yurim: You enjoy traveling and skiing.
YK: When I am skiing I feel really free, and I like to speed down the hill. I like tennis too, and swimming and badminton.
CC.com: Do you have a favorite tennis player?
GHB: I must say either Nadal or Alcaraz. I really admire their spirit. That’s something I try to bear in my mind when I’m in front of the piano — Have the same fight.
CC.com: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
GHB: It’s been a true honor. I’ve been dreaming about this competition for a decade. I was in the semifinals at the last Young Artists, and I finally made it to the finals, and then to second place. I will bear it in my heart for as long as I have memories.
CC.com: Thank you both so much, and I hope we will speak again in the future.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com August 5, 2026
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