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London-based Sunwook Kim came to international recog- nition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Pi ano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the com- petition's youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. His performance of Brahms's Concerto No.1 with the Halle Orchestra and Sir Mark Eider in the compe- tition's finals attracted unanimous praise from the press. Since then, he has established a reputation as one of the finest pianists of his generation, appearing as a concerto soloist in the subscription series of some of the world's lead- ing orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra (Gardiner, Harding), Concertgebouw Orchestra (Chung), Berlin Radio Symphony (Janowski), NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Finnish Radio Symphony (Oramo, Manze, Sokh- iev), Philharmonia Orchestra (Ashkenazy, Valcuha, Gardner), London Philharmonie (Sinaisky), Radio-France Philharmon ie (Chung), NHK Symphony (Steffens), Halle Orchestra (Ei der), and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for his BBC Proms debut in Summer 2014. This season Sunwook will make his debut with the RTSI Or chestra in Lugano (Beethoven 3 with Vladimir Ashkenazy), the Guerzenich Orchestra in Cologne (Britten with Michael Sanderling) and the Orchestre National du Capitole deTou- louse for a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto. In 14/15 he completed a highly acclaimed residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and returns there this season for a performance of Tchaikovsky's Ist Concer to. Since their Leeds finals together in 2006, Sunwook Kim has also enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the Halle Orchestra and Sir Mark Eider. At the start of last season they gave a 6-concert tour together with Rachmaninov's Con certo No.3 and recorded Brahms's Piano Concertos No.1 & 2 on the Halle's own label. Other recital concerto high- lights include a performance of Unsuk Chin's Piano Concer to with the Radio-France Philharmonie at the prestigious Festival d'Automne in Paris, and debut projects with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Schumann with Paavo Järvi), Hamburger Symphoniker (Rachmaninov 3), Opera di Roma (Beethoven 4) and Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Brahms 1). Recitals highlights to date include regulär appearances in the "Piano 4 Etoiles" series at Salle Pleyel in Paris, as well as debuts at the Wigmore Hall, the London International Pia no Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Stockholm Konserthuset, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, La Roque d'Antheron Inter national Piano Festival in France, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Sym phony Hall Osaka, Brussels Klara Festival, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Klavier-Festival Ruhrand Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele. In 12/13, he presented a complete cycle of the Beethoven Sonatas at the LG Arts Centre in Seoul. Future recital plans include returns to the "Piano 4 Etoiles" series at the Philharmonie in Paris and Wigmore Hall in London. Sunwook Kim's debut recital disc was released on the Ac- centus label in October 2015, featuring Beethoven's Wald stein and Hammerklavier sonatas and was followed in Jan- uary 2016 by a second Accentus recital release with Cesar Franck's Prelude, choral etfugue and Brahms's Sonata No.3. His discography to date includes two concerto recordings, both on Deutsche Grammophon and with the Seoul Phil harmonie conducted by Myung-Whun Chung: a CD fea turing Unsuk Chin's Piano Concerto (2014) which attracted outstanding reviews and awards from BBC Music Magazine and International Classical Music Awards, and a CD featur ing Beethoven's Concerto No.5 (2013). Born in Seoul in 1988, Sunwook Kim began the piano at the age of 3. He gave his debut recital aged just 10, and this was followed by his concerto debut two years later. He graduated from the Korean National University of Arts in February 2008, and then completed an MA in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. Besides Leeds, interna tional awards include the first prize at the 2004 Ettlingen Competition (Germany) and the 2005 Clara Haskil Compe tition (Switzerland). In 2013, Sunwook was selected by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn to become the first beneficiary of its new Mentoring Programme, a Status which grants him exclusive access to the house's unique collections and re- sources. www.sunwookkim.com
