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The South-Korean pianist, Dong-Hyek Lim, first began to study piano at the age of 7, following in the footsteps of his elder brother Dong-Min Lim, who is also an acclaimed young pianist. He won the Grand Prix at the Hanguk Daily Newspaper Competition and was chosen the year's best young pianist by the Korean Children Association at the age of 9. In 1994, he moved to Moscow to study at the Moscow Central Music School. He graduated in 1998 and became the youngest student in the history of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and continued his studies there with Professor Lev Naumov. At age 11, he gave a recital attended by the orthodox Patriarch Alexius II and performed in front of the Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
Dong-Hyek Lim has received top awards at various competitions. In September 1996, he captured international attention by winning the 2nd prize at the Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow as the youngest participant of that year (his elder brother Dong-Min Lim tied for the first prize). In 2000, Lim took the 5th prize at the International Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. He went on to win the 2nd prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan later that year. In December 2001, not only did he become the youngest winner of the Premier Grand Prix in the history of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, but also he won five other special awards. The controversial 3rd place in Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels happened in 2003. Lim was not content with the judgement made by the judges therefore he decided to reject it. Thus this 3rd place became 'unawarded' for the first time ever since this competition was set up from 1938. In October 2005, Lim participated in the 15th International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and, for the first time in the history of Korea, took the 3rd prize, tied with his elder brother Dong-Min Lim (no 2nd prize was awarded). In June 2007, Lim participated in the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, shared 4th prize with Sergei Sobolev (no 1st prize was awarded). Lim studied later with Emanuel Ax at the Juilliard School in New York City, received the Samsung Culture Scholarship and Ezoe Scholarship Foundation, and now studying under the class of Professor Arie Vardi in the Hannover Music Hochschule.
Dong-Hyek Lim's performances at the Small and Great Halls of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Salle Chopin-Pleye, Theatre des Champs-Elysees and the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Wigmore Hall in London, the Lazienski Palace in Warsaw, the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Konzert Hall in Berlin, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussel, Tonhalle Hall in Zurich and Suntory Hall, Kioi Hall, New National Theater, Osaka Philharmonic Hall, Saitama Art Theatre in Japan and the Theatro municipal do Rio de Janeiro in Brasil have met with great acclaim. He has appeared at many renowned festivals, including Verbier in Switzerland, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany, the 57th International Chopin Festival in Poland, La Roque d'Anthéron, Montpellier Radio France, the Piano aux Jacobins Festivals in France and Martha Argerich Festivals in Lugano Swizerland and in Beppu Japan.
Dong-Hyek Lim also had appearances with reputable orchestras among which the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov, Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Lawrence Foster and Myung-Whun Chung, Orchestra de Belgium under Alexander Dmitriev, Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Antoni Wit, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiri Belohlavek, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic and the national tour in Israel with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra included.
His engagement in the next season (2008-2009) includes concerts such as the Great Performer Series at Lincoln Center and the Troy Chromatic Concert Series in New York, at Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, at "Circola della Musica" Series in Imola Italy, at Biarritz festival in France, at the Seoul Art Center Concert Hall, at the Symphony Hall of the Auditorio National de la Musica in Madrid and the Canaries festival in Spain , at Natioal Concert Hall in Taipei, at Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussel with Orchestra de Belgium, at the 6th International Paderewski Piano Competition opening ceremony concert (2 concertos) with the Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra in Bydgoszcz, at Tchaikovsky Hall with Moscow Academy Philharmonic Orchestra and at Suntory Hall in Tokyo with the New Japan Philharmonic.
In May 2001, Dong-Hyek Lim became the youngest pianist ever to make a recording contract with EMI Classics and received the Diapason d'or award in France for his debut album of Frédéric Chopin, Schubert, and Ravel under the "Martha Argerich Presents" series, released in June 2002. His 2nd recording for EMI, featuring F. Chopin's B minor Sonata and other minor works, released in 2004, was awarded the Choc Prize by Le Monde de la Musique. The 3rd album which includes J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) & Bach-Busoni Chaconne was released in June 2008 under EMI. |
