Competitors from all over the world met their Missouri Southern International Piano Competition host families for the first time Sunday evening.

One such competitor was Hyun-Jee Moon. Moon originally hails from Korea; she is 24 and will be competing in the senior division.

This is her first time attending the competition but she has had several friends compete.

“I decided to come to the competition after my friend (Sang-il Han) placed third here in 2006,” Moon said.

Like many of the competitors, Moon has a long history of music.

“Music is very important, my family is very musical and I have been involved in it ever since I was a very young child,” Moon said. “I have been playing the piano ever since I was eight years old.

“Now I’m 24, so I’ve been playing a long time.”

Moon has a great love for music; she says her favorite thing about being a musician is listening to other musicians work.

“I really believe it is important to listen and study the great musicians of the past, you can learn a lot,” she said.

As for the future, Moon wants to continue playing and competing.

“I just want to continue my work,” she said.