Nurie Chung is the second prize winner with age 16, in 2021 56th Premio Paganini competition in Genoa, Italy. He was also awarded two more special prizes, one for best performance for commissioning piece and the other for the youngest finalist. He is one of the youngest prize winners of history of the competition. 

He is now studying with world renowned Prof. Boris Kuschnir in Vienna. Until March, 2023, He had been taught by late NamYun Kim at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts. 

He won many international and national competitions. In 2019, he won 1st prize of concerto competition at Morningside Music Bridge in Boston. He won 1st Prize of Il Piccolo Violin Magico in Italy in 2016, and won the grand prize across all categories of the 2016 EuroAsia Young Violin competition in Japan.

Recently he was invited to play with Sinfonica Abruzzese in L’Aquila Teatro Comunale, Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto and Matera, a recital at Teatro Cucinelli (Perugia Musica Classica, Fondazione Brunello e Federica Cucinelli), concerts at Valle d’Aosta (Saison Culturelle), Bari (Teatro Piccinni, Camerata Musicale Barese), Beautiful Thursday Concert Series at Seoul Kumho Art Hall (Which was broadcasted by KBS), 70th Anniversary Ceremony Concert of HanKookIlbo Newspaper at Lotte concert hall in Seoul and MECMA concert series in Dubai. And he was also invited to play for Maestro Vladimir Spivakov at a Masterclass organized by Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris and Verbier Festival Soloist Academy in Switzerland.

Prior to that, he performed a number of concerts in Europe, mainly in Italy, including Stradivari festival (Cremona, which was broadcasted by Cremona1 TV/Radio), Piran (Teatro Tartini, Slovenia, broadcasted by RAI & RTV- Radio Television Slovenia), Palermo (Duomo di Monreale), Padova, Carpi (Teatro Comunale), Genova, Mantova, Koper (Slovenia, which was broadcasted by RTV- Radio Television Slovenia), Dubai (Dubai Opera with Armenian State Symphony) and Malta (with Malta Philharmonic). He also collaborated with Maestro Sergey Smbatyan for Naxos Alexey Shor recording project.

For culture events such as ceremony concerts, he played for Korean Treasures Gala by  Samsung Foundation of Culture in Washington D.C. & Samsung HOAM Prize Ceremony in Seoul and Premio don Uva in Puglia region in Italy.

Critically acclaimed as “one of the great Bach interpreters of his generation”, Stepan Simonian is driven by a yearning to explore and illuminate the multiple facets of the great works of piano repertoire, particularly by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. 

His Silver Medal at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in 2010, his training within a well-cultured piano school tradition at Moscow Conservatory under Pavel Nersessian, as well as with Oleg Boshniakovich, then with Evgeni Koroliov in Hamburg, all form part of the experiences that have marked his musical taste, his interpretations, and his teaching.

Born in Moscow in 1981, Simonian won First Prize at the 2005 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, and Third Prize at the 2008 Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition, both in the US.

In recognition of his achievements in chamber music, he was awarded the prestigious Berenberg Cultural Prize in 2009 in Hamburg, where he has made his home. In 2014 he won Third Prize at the Aram Khachaturian International Piano Competition in Yerevan, Armenia.

Stepan Simonian is invited to perform at some of the most important festivals and concert venues throughout Europe and the US. He has appeared as a soloist with many national and international orchestras and conductors.