Sun­wook Kim plays Brahms

Johannes Brahms Symphony no. 3
Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2

Bertrand de Billy

Sunwook Kim

South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim catapulted to international fame when he won the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition at age 18, thereby becoming the youngest winner in the 40-year history of the competition. Since then he has been keenly in demand as a soloist, and critics have described his playing as powerful, artistic, and lyrical.

For his first performance with the ISO, Sunwook Kim plays Johannes Brahms' majestic Piano Concerto no. 2. Massive in scale and symphonic in design, the concerto also features a delicate lyricism, as can be heard in the scoring for piano and solo cello in the exquisite slow movement.

At the podium is the ISO's Principal Guest Conductor, Bertrand de Billy, following on from last year's outstanding performance of Brahms' Symphony no. 1, which kicked off the Brahms cycle that de Billy will complete this season with performances of the other three symphonies. Brahms' Symphony no. 3, also on this programme, is the shortest of the four but is jam-packed with musical brilliance.