“A one-in-a-million talent.” – Dallas Morning News
Since becoming the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022, Yunchan Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. His performances showcase a “magical ability” and a “natural, instinctive quality” (La Scena) that astounds listeners around the world. Marin Alsop, who conducted the 2022 Cliburn Final said, “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”
His audacious performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes “created a buzz throughout the international piano community” (Gramophone), and his appearance with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 delivered the defining moment of competition, as one critic noted: “The applause that followed was endless: a star had emerged before our eyes” (Seen and Heard International). The video of Yunchan’s Rachmaninov performance trended globally on YouTube in the days after and has now become the most-watched version of that piece on the platform, amassing well over 15 million views. The New York Times later listed it as one of the Top 10 Classical Music Performances of 2022.
In the years following his Cliburn win, Yunchan made successful orchestral debuts with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich, and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, as well as Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston, and Tokyo Symphony orchestras among others. Recital appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall, among other major stages.
Lim’s 2024/25 season highlights include orchestral debuts with Washington National Symphony, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, and WDR Symphony Orchestras, as well as returning to New York Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra de Paris. This season will also see his recital debut at the Kennedy Center, and a return to Carnegie Hall.
As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Yunchan Lim’s acclaimed debut studio album, Chopin Études Opp.10 & 25 has gone double platinum in South Korea and topped the classical charts around the world. The album won the 2024 Gramophone Award for Piano, and he was names Young Artist of the Year. His previous releases include his award-winning Cliburn performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons), which was also nominated in the Piano category at the 2024 Gramophone Awards; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album. Since January 2024, Yunchan has been an Apple Music Classical Global Ambassador.
Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at age 7. He entered the Music Academy of the Seoul Arts Center the next year, and quickly became immersed in his musical studies. 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. A year later, in 2018, he captured international attention when he won both Second Prize and the Chopin Special Award in his first competition: the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. That same year, he won both the Third and Audience prizes at the Cooper International Competition, which also provided him the opportunity to perform with The Cleveland Orchestra. In 2019, aged only 15, he became the youngest person to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition, where he also took home two special prizes.
Following two years at the Korea National University of Arts, Yunchan is currently studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with his teacher Minsoo Sohn.
October 2024
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
