[2025 K Classic ①] Im Yunchan's 'Bach' · Cho Seongjin's 'Ravel'... World-Class World Classic

Lim Yunchan, March Tongyeong International Music Hall Solo Recital
Tickets Sold Out in 58 Seconds
Cho Seongjin Nationwide Tour Starting June 12
Ravel Complete Piano Solo Works Album Released This Month
Lim & Cho Collaborate on Rachmaninoff Piece 'Attracting Attention'

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685?1750) and Maurice Ravel (1875?1937). These are the composers that two of Korea's most internationally acclaimed pianists, Lim Yunchan and Cho Seongjin, have focused on this year.

Cho Seongjin and Lim Yunchan are currently among the busiest performers worldwide. Since January, both have been engaged in hectic concert schedules across Europe. Cho Seongjin performs in Liechtenstein, Berlin and Bamberg in Germany, and Vienna in Austria during January, while Lim Yunchan performs in Lucerne, Switzerland, Vienna in Austria, and Cologne in Germany. In February, both will travel to the United States. Cho Seongjin will perform in Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, while Lim Yunchan will perform in San Diego and San Francisco.

Solo recitals at New York's Carnegie Hall are also scheduled. Cho Seongjin's recital is on February 5, and Lim Yunchan's on April 25. The pieces they will perform at Carnegie Hall are works by Ravel (Cho Seongjin) and Bach's Goldberg Variations (Lim Yunchan).

Im Yunchan [Photo by Universal Music, (c) James Hole]

Lim Yunchan's Solo Recital in Tongyeong in March... Cho Seongjin's Nationwide Tour in June

Despite their busy overseas schedules, both pianists will also perform domestically. Each will hold solo recitals in Korea during the first half of the year, featuring works by Ravel and Bach respectively.

Lim Yunchan will give a solo recital on March 30 at the Tongyeong International Music Hall in Gyeongnam. He will perform the Goldberg Variations ahead of his Carnegie Hall recital. Lim Yunchan's recital is one of the most anticipated performances at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, which runs from March 28 to April 6 next year. The Tongyeong International Music Foundation announced on December 11 last year that tickets for Lim Yunchan's recital sold out within 58 seconds of going on sale.

Cho Seongjin will embark on a nationwide tour from June 12 to July 6. This is his first nationwide tour in two years. Performances are scheduled in Seongnam, Daejeon, Incheon, Daegu, Busan, Cheonan, and Gimhae. He will perform at Seoul Arts Center on June 14 and 17, with one of the days focusing mainly on Ravel's works.

2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Ravel's birth. In celebration, Cho Seongjin will release a series of Ravel albums. In January, he will release a complete collection of Ravel's solo piano works, followed by a piano concerto album recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons in February. While Ravel left only two piano concertos, he composed many solo piano pieces. The complete solo works will be released on two CDs, and the concerto album on one CD. In April, a deluxe edition combining both albums will be released as a limited edition.

Choseongjin
[Photo by Universal Music, (c)Christoph_Koestlin]

Collaborative performances featuring Cho Seongjin and Lim Yunchan are also planned. Coincidentally, both will perform works by Rachmaninoff together with orchestras.

Cho Seongjin will appear on December 11 and 12 at the Gyeonggi Arts Center Grand Theater and Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall for the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra's final regular concerts of 2025. The orchestra will be conducted by music director Kim Sunwook, with Cho Seongjin performing Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini."

Lim Yunchan's collaborative performances will take place twice, in May and December, both at Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall. In May, he will perform with the Orchestre de Paris, and in December with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Klaus M?kel?, music director of the Orchestre de Paris, is currently one of the most prominent young conductors worldwide. Born in 1996, he has led the Orchestre de Paris since 2021 at the age of 25. Starting in 2027, he will also serve as principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) in the Netherlands, considered one of the three major orchestras alongside the Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic. The Orchestre de Paris will perform different programs on May 14 and 15. Lim Yunchan will perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4 on the 15th.

The concerto to be performed with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia on December 4 at Seoul Arts Center has not yet been confirmed. The concert will be conducted by Daniel Harding, music director of the orchestra. Harding previously served as music director of the Orchestre de Paris before M?kel?.

Cellists Choi Hayoung and Han Jaemin in the Spotlight... Yoon Hangyul's Original Composition 'Longing' Premieres

Cellist Choi Hayoung, winner of the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition cello category, will be active as an in-house artist at Lotte Concert Hall this year. She will perform twice, on April 30 and November 26. The first concert on April 30 will feature a joint performance with her younger sister, violinist Choi Songha, who is two years her junior. This will be the sisters' first joint performance in Korea. The second concert on November 26 will feature Norwegian pianist Joachim Carr. They will perform works including Edvard Grieg's "Cello Sonata," representing Norway. Choi Hayoung will also appear at the Lotte Cultural Foundation's classical music festival "Classic Revolution," scheduled for August 28 to September 3, 2025.

Choi Ha-young [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

Cellist Han Jaemin will perform consecutively at the New Year's concerts of the KBS Symphony Orchestra and the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra. On the 19th, at the Gyeonggi Philharmonic's New Year's concert held at the Gyeonggi Arts Center Grand Theater, he will perform Saint-Sa?ns' Cello Concerto No. 1. On the 24th, at the KBS Symphony Orchestra's first regular concert of the year at Lotte Concert Hall, he will perform Shostakovich's Cello Concerto, conducted by the Israeli maestro Eliahu Inbal. Inbal is 89 years old this year, while Han Jaemin is 19.

Han Jaemin will also perform duo concerts with Russian pianist Alexander Malofeyev. They will perform on May 29 at Seoul Arts Center and June 1 at Bucheon Arts Center. Their program includes Debussy and Prokofiev cello sonatas, as well as C?sar Franck's violin sonata arranged for cello.

Conductor Yoon Hangyul, who was the first Korean to receive the Karajan Young Conductor Award at the 2023 Salzburg Festival, is also attracting attention. He will conduct the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time on September 12 at Lotte Concert Hall. Also active as a composer, he will premiere his original composition "Longing," which he debuted at last year's Salzburg Festival, for the first time in Asia. He will also conduct Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 and Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra."

Conductor Yoon Han-gyeol (c) Gstaad Menuhin Festival

Pianist Park Jaehong, winner of the 2021 Busoni Competition, will appear as a soloist at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra's regular concerts on September 25 and 26 at Lotte Concert Hall. He will perform Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," conducted by music director Jaap van Zweden. The concert will also feature the world premiere of a piece commissioned from Jeong Jaeil, music director of the "Squid Game" soundtrack, as the opening work.

Sunwoo Yekwon, winner of the 2017 Van Cliburn Competition, will perform twice with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. First, he will appear at the commemorative concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of Korea-Japan diplomatic relations on March 2 and 3. The concert will be conducted by Chung Myung-whun, who will lead a joint performance by the KBS Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos No. 10 and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 "Titan." Sunwoo Yekwon will perform Mozart's concerto with Japanese pianist Kaoruko Igarashi. The concerts will be held on March 2 at 2 p.m. at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul. Sunwoo Yekwon will also perform at the KBS Symphony Orchestra's regular concert on June 12, conducted by Chung Myung-whun, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1.