Hill Auditorium
Yunchan Lim, piano
$15-20 student tickets available
“There is no substitute for rare talent, and Yunchan Lim is, indeed, the real deal…when the young South Korean is in his element, there are few sounds more ravishing in the world.” (San Francisco Classical Voice)
After his astonishing performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Orchestre de Paris in March 2024, we had to immediately invite Yunchan Lim to return for his UMS recital debut. The youngest musician to win the Van Cliburn Competition (at age 18) returns to close out the 24/25 Choral Union Series, the third of three remarkable piano recital debuts this season. Lim performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations, an incredible series of 30 transformations on a single theme that ranges from the ebullient to the introspective. The work’s epic scope transforms its beautiful, simple theme through different time signatures, textures, and harmonies.
Join host Doyle Armbrust for “The Society of Disobedient Listeners” — a special pre-performance talk, 6:15 pm in the Modern Languages Building.
Valet parking will be available beginning 1 hour before the performance for $30 per car (cash only) on N University Ave in front of Hill Auditorium.
PROGRAM (Wed 4/23/2025: Hill Auditorium)
Anton Webern Variations for Piano, Op. 27
J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 998
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Yunchan Lim, piano
Hill Auditorium
Starting at $14 (+ fees)
$15-20 student tickets available
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* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
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. Marin Alsop expressed: “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”
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. His previous releases include Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album.
Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at age 7. He was accepted into the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. In 2019, aged only 15, he became the youngest person to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition. Yunchan currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with his teacher Minsoo Sohn.