Sunwook Kim’s 11/12 season saw highly successful subscription debuts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Myung-Whun Chung), Berlin Radio Symphony (Marek Janowski), and in Japan the NHK and Kyoto symphony orchestras, as well as return engagements with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Darrell Ang) and Finnish Radio Symphony (Tugan Sokhiev). Sunwook also gave debut recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, in the prestigious “Paris 4 Etoiles” series at Salle Pleyel Paris, and he began an ambitious cycle of Beethoven’s sonatas at the LG Arts Center in Seoul, Korea.

Highlights among concerto projects for the season 12/13 and beyond include return engagements with the Hallé Orchestra (Brahms 2 with Mark Elder), Bournemouth Symphony (Brahms 2 Kiril Karabits), Helsinki Radio Symphony (Beethoven 4 with Andrew Manze) and Seoul Philharmonic (Bartok 2 with Peter Eötvös, Beethoven 5 with Myung-Whun Chung).

As a recitalist, he will give his Berlin recital debut at the Philharmonie (Kammermusiksaal), will return to the “Piano 4 Etoiles” series at Salle Pleyel, Paris, and will complete his acclaimed Beethoven sonata cycle at the LG Arts Center, Seoul. Following his highly successful Japan debut tour in Spring 2012, he will also return to Kioi Hall Tokyo, Symphony Hall Osaka and Shirakawa Hall Nagoya.

Sunwook Kim is also a keen chamber musician. Chamber music projects in the 12/13 season include Brahms concerts in Berlin (Philharmonie) and Paris (Pleyel) with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, recitals in Italy with the German violinist Veronika Eberle, and participation in the Great Mountain Music Festival in Korea (with the Michelangelo Quartet and Myung-Wha Chung).

Born in Seoul in 1988, Sunwook Kim began the piano at the age of 3. He gave his debut recital aged just 10 at the Kumho Prodigy Series in Seoul, and this was followed by his concerto debut two years later.

Since then he has appeared as concerto soloist in the subscription series of the London Philharmonic (Sinaisky), Philharmonia Orchestra (Ashkenazy), Radio-France Philharmonic (Chung), Tokyo Philharmonic (Chung), NHK Symphony, Hallé Orchestra (Elder), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, as well as on tour in Korea with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Janowski), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Chung), Budapest Festival Orchestra (I. Fischer) and the BBC Philharmonic (Noseda).

Recent recital appearances include Brussels Klara Festival, Brussels Summer Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele in Germany, the Dinard Festival in France, the London and Vancouver Chopin Societies, the Aspen Music Festival, New York’s International Keyboard Institute, the New Ross International Piano Festival in Ireland, the Duszniki Zdrój International Chopin Festival in Poland as well as the Tongyeong International Music Festival and Kumho Rising Stars Series in Korea.

Sunwook Kim graduated from the Korean National University of Arts in February 2008, where he was a student of Daejin Kim. Besides Leeds, international awards include the first prize at the 2004 Ettlingen Competition (Germany) and the 2005 Clara Haskil Competition (Switzerland).