New Generation Piano Recital – Saehyun Kim

Born in 2007, Kim began playing the piano while still very young. He first studied at the Seoul Arts Center Music Academy and the Yewon School under Soojung Shin, Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University, and Youngmi Choi. He was quickly recognised for his talent and moved to the United States to continue his studies at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory (NEC) Preparatory School, studying under HaeSun Paik. After graduating from both schools in 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Arnold C. Taylor Award for Academic and Artistic Achievement at Walnut Hill and the Piano Department Award from NEC Prep. In the fall of 2024, he enrolled in the prestigious Harvard/New England Conservatory dual-degree programme, where he is currently continuing his studies with Professors Dang Thai Son and HaeSun Paik. He is also a Theo and Petra Lieven International Piano Foundation scholar.

Having already won a plethora of international competitions, Kim attracted international attention on the eve of his eighteenth birthday, winning the First Grand Prize, the Audience Prize and the Press Jury Prize at the 2025 Long-Thibaud International competition, as well as the affiliated Conservatoires de la Ville de Paris Prize for his extraordinary performance of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3. In 2023, he won First Prize, the Audience Award and the Junior Jury Award at the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. Before that, he won First Prize at the Morningside Music Bridge International Concerto Competition, as well as Second Prize—as the youngest finalist—at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in the Piano category. His performance at the Long-Thibaud competition can be heard on France’s Radio Classique and his performance at the Cleveland Competition on radio station WQXR. Saehyun Kim has performed on many international stages, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Salle Cortot in Paris, Vienna’s Ehrbar Saal, the Seoul Arts Center and Yamaha Hall Ginza in Tokyo. He has given memorable solo performances with the French Republican Guard Band, the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, the Sendai and Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestras, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the North Mississippi Symphony and the NEC Youth Philharmonic and NEC Youth Symphony, working with conductors such as Bastien Stil, Steven Byess, David Loebel, Steven Karidoyanes, Chi-Yong Chung and Ken Takaseki.

He was invited to take part in the Morningside Music Bridge programme and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation Young Scholars Program and his talents have been heard on America’s National Public Radio (“From the Top”), KBS Classic FM and JTBC Classic Today. Kim made his recital debut during the 2023/2024 season at the International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, at the IBK Chamber Hall of the Seoul Arts Center and at Shinyoung Chamber Hall in South Korea. For the 2025/2026 season, he performs at the Concert de Paris on Bastille Day, 14 July, on the Champ-de-Mars in the French capital, and in recital at France’s La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, the Festival des Pianos Folies in Le Touquet, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and the Fondation Louis Vuitton Auditorium. He also has planned a recital tour in major South Korean cities for the upcoming season, while preparing his debut recording for Warner Classics, devoted to solo piano.