Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. 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 leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Chicago Symphony and the NHK Symphony.

Kim enjoys close relationships with renowned conductors including Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Myung-whun Chung, Marek Janowski, Sir Mark Elder and Jakub Hrusa. Recent highlights include an extensive tour of Europe and Korea play-directing Beethoven concerti with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, including concerts at Lotte Concert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Philharmonique de Liege, Halle Aux Grains, Toulouse and the Barbican, London. Other recent concerto highlights include concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra (Michael Tilson Thomas), Los Angeles Philharmonic (both with Nathalie Stutzman and as part of the Seoul Festival curated by Unsuk Chin), and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (with Music Director Karina Cannelakis). In November 2025 he will be the soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko for their Korean tour.

In recital, Kim regularly appears at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London International Piano Series), in the ‘Piano 4 Etoiles’ series at the Philharmonie de Paris and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Piano aux Jacobins Festival, Aix Festival, La Roque d’Antheron International Piano Festival as well as at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Klavier- Festival Ruhr, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall Osaka and Seoul Arts Centre. Kim also collaborates with Janine Jansen including recently in a tour of Italy with performances in Venice, Milan, Cremona and Torino as well as to Dusseldorf and Lugano with an all-Brahms and Schumann programme.

Kim’s debut recital disc was released on the Accentus label in October 2015, featuring Beethoven’s Waldstein and Hammerklavier sonatas. This was followed by a recording of Franck’s Prelude, choral et fugue paired with Brahms’ Sonata No.3. He has released further recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas(Sonata No. 8; Pathetique, Sonata No. 14; Moonlight and Sonata No. 23; Appassionata as well as Sonatas Nos. 30-32) and his most recent chamber music release features the Violin Sonatas of Beethoven in collaboration with Clara-Jumi Kang. His discography also includes multiple concerto recordings; on Accentus Music with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Myung-whun Chung featuring Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1 (2019) and Six Piano Pieces (2020). He has also released music on Deutsche Grammophon with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-whun Chung, including a recording of Unsuk Chin’s Piano Concerto (2014) which attracted outstanding reviews and awards from BBC Music Magazine and International Classical Music Awards, and a recording of Beethoven’s Concerto No.5 (2013). In 2023, the Berliner Philharmoniker released a new box of recordings of works by Unsuk Chin featuring her Piano Concerto performed by Kim, conducted by Sakari Oramo.

Born in Seoul in 1988, Kim completed an MA in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and was subsequently made a fellow (FRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019. Besides Leeds, international awards include the first prize at the 2004 Ettlingen Competition (Germany) and the 2005 Clara Haskil Competition (Switzerland). In 2013, Kim was selected by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn to become the first beneficiary of its new Mentoring scheme.

Photo credit: Marco Borggreve