Pianist Yunchan Lim Wins Diapason d'Or Award for Young Talent 2024

The award was given for his disc "Chopin: Etudes," which was released on Decca

Organized by Diapason magazine, the Diapason d'Or awards have been running since 2007, and are seen by many as some of the most prestigious recording awards in the classical music industry. Each year, awardees are selected across several categories by the magazine's critics and those at France Musique, France's public radio station.

Korean pianist Yunchan Lim has been named the winner of the Diapason d'Or in the Jeune Talent (Young Talent) category. The prize was given for his album Chopin: Etudes, which was released on the Decca label in April of 2024.

The disc has already received critical acclaim, and Lim won a Gramophone Classical Music Award for it earlier in 2024.

The youngest pianist ever to win the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, Lim is quickly becoming a household name — and has received concerto performance opportunities with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras, and Orchestre de Paris.

In the 2024/25 season, he will make debut appearances with the 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. He will also make his recital debut at the Kennedy Center, as well as returning to Carnegie Hall for a further recital appearance.

Lim began learning the piano at the age of seven, and his major teacher was Minsoo Sohn.

(PC: James Holecrop)