FULL BIOGRAPHY
The rising pianist whose Beethoven recordings for EMI Classics have received critical acclaim from
The New York Times, BBC Music and The Telegraph, South Korean breathtaking performer HJ Lim, is
becoming a classical music phenomenon as we speak.
In 2010, her extraordinary decision to encompass in live concerts the complete Beethoven piano
sonatas, performed in Paris in August 2010, in over eight consecutive days, created a sensation in
the classical music world.
One year later, HJ Lim recorded the complete cycle for EMI Classics and published the complete
Beethoven piano sonatas divided into eight themes, accompanied by her own essay with a powerful
new insight on Beethoven sonatas, becoming (at the age of 24) the youngest-ever to record the
Beethoven complete sonatas (a pinnacle of the solo piano repertoire), first-ever and the only
classical pianist to debut in 2012 at number 1 on Billboard Classical Overall Chart and Classical iTunes
Charts in the USA and Canada, and now around the world. Her next Ravel/Scriabin recording will be
released by EMI Classics very soon.
Her upcoming appearances with orchestra include her debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London with
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Münchner
Symphoniker, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, as well as an Asian tour
with Sir Roger Norrington and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, a South American tour with the
Hamburg-NDR Symphony Orchestra and masterclasses in Turkey and Chicago.
For the upcoming season, HJ Lim is invited to perform recitals at the Annecy Classic Festival,
Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris as part of the
Maestros & Friends series, a prestigious series co-presented by Arcadia Musica, Cecilia Meireles, Rio
de Janeiro, at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and at the Beethoven Festival of Chicago.
She has recently performed with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Zurich Tonhalle, at
the Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Sala Verdi in Milan, Stadtcasino in Basel and at
the Menton Festival.
KBS TV is planning a documentary about HJ Lim this ongoing month using extracts from the
preparation of her concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London and at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord
in Paris for a TV documentary called 'Global Success Story' (which had recently filmed Ban Ki-Moon,
UN), which will be broadcasted even before her 1st South Korean tour in 2013, when she comes
back to perform in her native country.
HJ LIM began her musical studies at the age of three under Jong-Sun Kim. Aged twelve, Lim decided
of her own accord to relocate to France, where she immersed herself in the musical world of the
composers who had shaped her early years. After becoming the youngest ever person to obtain the
Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales Complètes of Normandy Conservatory in France, aged fifteen, HJ Lim
graduated with First Prize and obtained the Diplôme de Formation Supérieure, with highest
distinctions in the class of Henri Barda of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de
Danse de Paris.
HJ Lim records exclusively for EMI Classics on Yamaha’s Flagship CFX concert grand pianos.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
The rising pianist whose Beethoven recordings for EMI Classics have received critical acclaim from
The New York Times, BBC Music and The Telegraph, South Korean breathtaking performer HJ Lim is
becoming a classical music phenomenon as we speak.
In 2010, her extraordinary decision to encompass in live concerts the complete Beethoven piano
sonatas, performed in Paris in August 2010 in over eight consecutive days, created a sensation in the
classical music world.
One year later, HJ Lim recorded the complete cycle for EMI Classics and published the complete
Beethoven piano sonatas divided into eight themes accompanied by her own essay with a powerful
new insight on Beethoven sonatas, becoming (at the age of 24) the youngest-ever to record the
Beethoven complete sonatas (a pinnacle of the solo piano repertoire), first-ever and the only
classical pianist to debut in 2012 at number 1 on Billboard Classical Overall Chart and Classical iTunes
Charts in the USA and Canada, and now around the world. Her next Ravel/Scriabin recording will be
released by EMI Classics very soon.
Her upcoming appearances with orchestra include her debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London with
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Münchner
Symphoniker, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, as well as an Asian tour with Sir Roger Norrington
conducting the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, a South American tour with the Hamburg-NDR Symphony
Orchestra and masterclasses in Turkey and Chicago.
For the upcoming season, HJ Lim is invited to perform recitals at the Annecy Classic Festival,
Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris as part of the
Maestros & Friends series, a prestigious series co-presented by Arcadia Musica, Cecilia Meireles, Rio
de Janeiro, at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and at the Beethoven Festival of Chicago.
She has recently performed with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Zurich Tonhalle, at
the Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Sala Verdi in Milan, Stadtcasino in Basel and at
the Menton Festival.
HJ Lim began piano at three. Aged twelve, she decided of her own accord to relocate to France. After
becoming the youngest ever person to obtain the Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales Complètes of
Normandy Conservatory in France, aged fifteen, HJ Lim graduated with First Prize and obtained the
Diplôme de Formation Supérieure, with highest distinctions in the class of Henri Barda of the
Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
HJ Lim records exclusively for EMI Classics on Yamaha’s Flagship CFX concert grand pianos.