Here’s an introduction to Yunchan Lim, the fast-rising pianist who gets a star turn at the 2024 BBC Proms.
Who is Yunchan Lim?
Yunchan Lim is a South Korean pianist who shot to fame in 2022, when he became the youngest person ever to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of just 18.
How old is Yunchan Lim?
Yunchan Lim was born on March 20, 2004, in Siheung, South Korea.
When did he start learning the piano?
He began piano lessons at the age of 7, and entered the Music Academy of the Seoul Arts Center the following year. He auditioned for and was accepted into the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. Yunchan
Yunchan made his global and competition debut a year later, in 2018, winning second prize and the Chopin Special Award in his first-ever competition, the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists.
What is Yunchan Lim performing at the 2024 Proms?
Yunchan Lim is the soloist for Prom 14 (Monday 29 July, Royal Albert Hall). He’ll be performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major ‘Emperor’, with accompaniment from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paavo Järvi. Those forces will also give us Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Aditus and the Symphony No. 1 in C minor by Bruckner (1877 Linz version, ed. Nowak)
Has he released any albums?
Yes. He’s released an acclaimed album of Chopin‘s Etudes on Decca, with rather nice 1970s-themed cover art. We gave it a glowing review.
Elsewhere, his semi-final performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Études from the Van Cliburn competition was released in July 2023, debuting at number 5 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Albums chart. Yunchan has also recorded Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto, released in 2022 on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
What did he play at his award-winning Van Cliburn performance?
At the 16th Van Cliburn competition in 2022 in Forth Worth, Texas, Yunchan Lim took first prize with his performances of the third piano concertos by Beethoven and Rachmaninov. He was accompanied by the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, who also served as Jury Chair that year. The jury also featured pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Alessio Bax, and Stephen Hough among others.
Yunchan Lim’s performance of the Rachmaninov Third became something of a YouTube phenomenon, amassing more than 14 million views to date and becoming the most-watched video performance of the work.