October 9, 2025
Athens, GR 14 C
Expand search form
Blog

Yunchan Lim wows the Proms with muted intensity

Yunchan Lim wows the Proms with muted intensity

Two members of the audience collapsed in the first half of last night’s BBC Prom concert. The air-conditioning at the Royal Albert Hall was on full-blast but the atmosphere in the pit was choking.

And then there was Yunchan.

A wisp of a pianist, barely filling his dark suit, the 20 year-old Korean sat at the piano with an authority unseen in one so young. His entry in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto was so quiet the conductor Paavo Jarvi had to tamp down the BBC Symphony Orchestra and let the soloist dictate dynamics.

I think I heard a pin drop in the Adagio – its tune plundered by Bernstein in West Side Story – but I might be mistaken. Some around me barely dared to breathe. The finale, which often feels self-repetitive, was dashed off at Olympic speed.

Yunchan Lim returned for two ovations. With the second he played a Bach transcription, then he was gone. No wave of farewell. Almost an apparition.

photo: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

The post Yunchan Lim wows the Proms with muted intensity appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

Rome books Netrebko

Next Article

Bayreuth sells out

You might be interested in …

English Gems from Wigmore Hall

English Gems from Wigmore Hall

This is properly musicians in sevice of music. The pieces here ae rarely heard, and of the three composers only one has anything like the recognition he deserves, and even then it’s somewhat lacking (Bliss). […]

A Texan debuts  at Covent Garden

A Texan debuts at Covent Garden

The IMG mezzo Raehann Bryce-Davis has been whisked in to sing Amneris in a run of Aidas, starting January 28. She replaces Ekaterina Semenchuk. Anna Pirozzi sings the title role. Raehann, a Manhattan School of […]