Dong-Hyek Lim (born July 25, 1984 in Seoul) is a South Korean classical pianist. Lim has previously studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover and received the Samsung Culture Scholarship and the Ezoe Scholarship. He currently studies with Emanuel Ax at the Juilliard School.^[1]

Awards

Lim has been the recipient of many prominent awards. In September 1996, he took second prize in the Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow [1] and received much international attention by being the youngest participant in the competition and by placing second while his elder brother Dong-Min Lim tied for first prize. In 2000, Lim placed fifth at the International Busoni Piano Competition in Italy [2] and won second prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition^[2] in Japan.

In December 2001, he became the youngest winner of the Premier Grand Prix in the history of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris and also five other special awards.^[3][4]

Lim created controversy in 2003 upon his refusal of his third prize placement in the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, stating that the judging wasn't fair.^[5] The third place prize was consequently 'unawarded' for the first time since the establishment of the competition in 1938, and Lim's name and placement is missing from the laureates' page on the official web site.^[6]

Lim participated in the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in October 2005 and shared the third prize his elder brother Dong-Min Lim, with no second prize being awarded.^[7] He then placed fourth with fellow contestant Sergei Sobolev in the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in June 2007, where no first prize was awarded.^[8]

Performing and recording career

Lim has performed in many venues including the Seoul Arts Center, Small and Great Halls of the Moscow State Conservatory, Salle Pleyel and Salle Cortot in Paris, the Lazienki Palace in Warsaw, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Philharmonic Hall in Beppu, Japan.^[1] He has also participated in renowned festivals such as Verbier in Switzerland, Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany, the 57th International Chopin Festival in Poland, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Piano aux Jacobins festival in France and Martha Argerich’s Festival [3] in Lugano.^[1]

He also appeared with reputable orchestras: the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov, the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Lawrence Foster and Myung-Whun Chung, the National Orchestra of Belgium under Alexander Dmitriev, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiri Belohlavek, the European Union Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Northern Sinfonia under Thomas Zehetmair, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Personal life

In November 2009, Lim's mother suddenly died while he was on tour in Malaysia. He played Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess in her honor at his recital at the Seoul Arts Center in February, 2010.^[9]