Ih-Ruhn Katharina Jung, aged 12, a PreCollege student in Prof. Sontraud Speidel’s piano class, was named Absolute Winner and Romantic – Absolute Winner in Age Group IV at the international PCO Piano Competition Online.
Ih-Ruhn Katharina Jung, born in Heidelberg in 2013, began playing the piano at the age of three. She has been taking lessons with Prof. Sontraud Speidel since 2021 and has been studying at the PreCollege of the Karlsruhe University of Music since 2024.
She made her solo debut in 2023 with the Waldstadt Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Norbert Krupp. Further performances followed in 2024 with this orchestra as well as with the Karlsruhe Chamber Orchestra under Susanne Reiner. In 2025, she appeared once again as a soloist with the Karlsruhe Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Matthias Böhringer.
She has been awarded first prizes at numerous national and international competitions, including ‘Jugend musiziert’, the Baden-Württemberg Association of Musicians’ Competition, EUPLAYY Munich, the Grotrian-Steinweg Piano Competition and the International Karl Adler Youth Music Competition. At the 2023 Andreas Kunle Piano Competition and the 2025 Anno Schreier Piano Competition organised by PIANO-PODIUM, she received the highest level of support in each case, as well as special prizes.
As a cellist, she was also awarded first prize at both the regional and state levels of the “Jugend musiziert” competition. As a pianist, she has given recitals in Vienna, Bayreuth, Salzburg and Köthen, as well as in Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden.
Since 2023, she has been a regular participant in projects led by Dr Joachim Draheim. As part of the piano duo “Blumenduo” with Luise Bold, she won first prizes in 2025 at the Tonkünstlerverband Baden-Württemberg and the Danubia Talents International Music Competition.