Yunchan Lim: 19-year-old piano sensation signs record deal

Yunchan LimJohn Hole

A 19-year-old musician who has been dubbed” classical music’s solution to K-pop” has agreed to an exclusive contract with Decca Records in the UK.

When Yunchan Lim won the prestigious Van Cliburn Piano Competition in Texas next month, he astounded the music industry.

His rendition of Piano Concerto No. 1 by Rachmaninoff Since then, more than 12 million people have watched 3.

After a protracted bidding war, Decca decided to buy the player.

Before he suddenly made the decision to sign with the 94-year-old American logo, Yunchan was courted by record business executives in Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, London, New York, and Seoul.

He stated in a statement that” Decca has produced data with excellent audio quality and has worked with many famous guitarists.”

” It’s a record company that one can really appreciate if they’re musicians.”

The teenager’s performances have been characterized as” visceral ,”” magnetic ,” and” poetic” and appear to come out of nowhere. Conductor Marin Alsop was moved to tears by his fiery performance of Rachmaninoff’s symphony in Texas.

Reviewing Lim’s American comeback at the Wigmore Hall next January, Jessica Duchen of the Independent wrote,” A little, impassive, more heavenly lad, Lim seems not just at one with his piano, but favourably in love with it.”

” He plays so well that you think you’re dreaming ,” he said.

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According to Norman Lebrecht in The Critic,” Yunchan plays the notes— all of them— as pathways to a surreal elsewhere.” His portrayal of Rachmaninoff transitioned from” quietly, calmly penetrating lucidity” to” pinging intensity ,” according to The New York Times.
Zacharay Wolf wrote,” By the end of the piece, his lower body was jack-knifing toward the locks at motifs, with his left finger stomping.”

Yunchan, who was born in Siheung, South Korea, in 2004, attributes his passion of the music to his mother’s early piano lessons with Chopin and Liszt.

At the age of seven, he began music classes, and a year later, at the Music Academy of Seoul Arts Center.

His teacher previously told the New York Times,” I quickly noticed that he was a great ability.” He is extremely sincere.

He has released two recordings since taking first place in the Van Cilburn contest: one of Liszt’s devilishly challenging Transcendental Études, which was recorded at the competition semi-finals; and a live performance of the Beethoven sonata with the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra.

Within hours of its release, the latter, which was made available by Universal Music Korea, reached silver status in his native land.

Decca may release his first theater saving in the spring of 2024.

Tom Lewis, co-president of the label, stated in a statement that” Yunchan is, quite simply, the most exciting new classical musician on the planet.” We are thrilled that he chose us because it took a world goal to get his signature.