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.

The Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has served as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2004. One of the many highlights of this long standing collaboration was the widely acclaimed Beethoven cycle, whose performances were celebrated by critics around the world and honoured with numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik for “Conductor of the Year.” The Beethoven project was followed by an intensive exploration of the symphonic works of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms; both cycles likewise received multiple distinctions. Since autumn 2021, the orchestra has turned its focus to Joseph Haydn’s twelve London Symphonies, followed in 2024 by an in depth engagement with the symphonies of Franz Schubert.

Since the 2019/20 season, Paavo Järvi has also served as Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. Starting with the 2028/29 season, Järvi will assume the position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival, which he established in 2011. As a guest conductor, he regularly appears 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, Paavo Järvi was named Artist of the Year by both Gramophone magazine (UK) and Diapason (France). This was followed in 2019 by the Opus Klassik award for Conductor of the Year. Further honours 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 recognition of his commitment to promoting the music of Jean Sibelius, he received the Sibelius Medal in 2015, and in 2012 he was awarded the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. For his dedication to Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013, and in 2024 he received the Bremen Senate Medal for Art and Science.