Biography
Born in Seoul on July 25, 1984, pianist Dong Hyek Lim—sometimes rendered Dong-Hyek Lim—advanced from a precocious start in music to regular engagements at leading venues and festivals worldwide. His path reflected an unusually varied mix of Korean, Russian, German, and American influences.
His older brother, fellow pianist Dong Min Lim, joined him in sharing third prize at the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Early lessons took place at Korea’s National Conservatory, where he captured a national newspaper contest at age nine. The following year he relocated to Moscow and entered the Central Music School, completing his studies there in 1998. Further training followed at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Lev Naumov, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover under Arie Vardi, and at New York’s Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax.
Martha Argerich provided decisive early support, appearing with him in recital and including him in her Martha Argerich Presents series on EMI. His debut album for the label, devoted to Chopin, Schubert, and Ravel, received the Diapason d’Or in France in 2001. Competition triumphs continued when he became the youngest-ever recipient of the Premier Grand Prix at the 2001 Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition. At the 2003 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels he contested his third-prize result; the award was ultimately withheld and his name removed from the official records.
He has performed at such prominent halls as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, and Wigmore Hall in London, and he returns frequently to major European festivals, among them Verbier and the former Martha Argerich Lugano Festival.
In 2008 he recorded Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, for EMI in a distinctly Romantic manner. Deutsche Grammophon released Schubert for Two, his 2015 duo album with Suyoen Kim. After moving to Warner Classics he issued several solo discs and a recording of Mozart and Beethoven violin sonatas with Ji Young Lim, to whom he is unrelated. For the same label he taped Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Vedernikov in 2019; the album also contains his performance, with Argerich, of the composer’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, in its two-piano version.
His older brother, fellow pianist Dong Min Lim, joined him in sharing third prize at the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Early lessons took place at Korea’s National Conservatory, where he captured a national newspaper contest at age nine. The following year he relocated to Moscow and entered the Central Music School, completing his studies there in 1998. Further training followed at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Lev Naumov, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover under Arie Vardi, and at New York’s Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax.
Martha Argerich provided decisive early support, appearing with him in recital and including him in her Martha Argerich Presents series on EMI. His debut album for the label, devoted to Chopin, Schubert, and Ravel, received the Diapason d’Or in France in 2001. Competition triumphs continued when he became the youngest-ever recipient of the Premier Grand Prix at the 2001 Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition. At the 2003 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels he contested his third-prize result; the award was ultimately withheld and his name removed from the official records.
He has performed at such prominent halls as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, and Wigmore Hall in London, and he returns frequently to major European festivals, among them Verbier and the former Martha Argerich Lugano Festival.
In 2008 he recorded Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, for EMI in a distinctly Romantic manner. Deutsche Grammophon released Schubert for Two, his 2015 duo album with Suyoen Kim. After moving to Warner Classics he issued several solo discs and a recording of Mozart and Beethoven violin sonatas with Ji Young Lim, to whom he is unrelated. For the same label he taped Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Vedernikov in 2019; the album also contains his performance, with Argerich, of the composer’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, in its two-piano version.
Albums
Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Chopin: Preludes, Op. 28 - Mozart, Beethoven
2025
'Arioso' - Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Ravel, Rachmaninov
2025
Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Rachmaninov
2024
Schubert: Piano Sonatas D. 959 & 960
2022
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Symphonic Dances
2019
Mozart & Beethoven: Violin Sonatas
2017
Chopin: 24 Préludes, Barcarolle, Berceuse & Variations brillantes
2015
Schubert For Two
2015
Chopin Recital
2004
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Version 1872)
1984
Singles
