Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at the age of seven. At 13, he was accepted at the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts. He is currently studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in the USA with his teacher Minsoo Sohn. In 2022, Yunchan Lim became the youngest participant to win the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of just 18. Since then, this young pianist has experienced a meteoric international rise with successful orchestral debuts, for example with the New York, Los Angeles and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras, the Münchner Philharmoniker and the Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras. He has already performed at Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among others.

In addition to his debut with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, other highlights of the 2024/25 season include orchestral debuts with the Washington National Symphony, London Symphony, The Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and WDR Sinfonieorchester. He also returns to the New York Philharmonic, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and the Orchestre de Paris. In addition, Yunchan Lim is an exclusive Decca Classics artist. His acclaimed debut album ›Chopin: Études Op.10 & 25‹ went double platinum in South Korea and reached the top of the classical music charts worldwide.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2004. One of the many highlights of this collaboration was the Beethoven cycle, acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike, for which Järvi received numerous awards including the ›Echo Klassik Conductor of the Year‹ award and the prestigious annual ›German Record Critics‹’ award. Their Beethoven project was followed by an intensive exploration of the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms; both cycles also received numerous awards. From autumn 2021, the focus was on Joseph Haydn’s twelve London symphonies, and since 2024, an intensive exploration of Franz Schubert’s symphonies.

Järvi has been Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since the start of the 2019/20 season. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival. From the 2028/29 season, Järvi will take up the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He also regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by both the British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. This was followed in 2019 by the Opus Klassik award for ›Conductor of the Year‹. Other awards include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the title ›Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‹, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2015, Paavo Järvi also received the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing this Finnish composer’s music to a wider audience, and in 2012 he received the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. As a committed supporter of Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013.