Photo: Abhishek Pichumani
about me
Up until the age of twelve, I was one of those children who reluctantly practiced for 10 minutes right before my weekly piano lessons. When my family relocated to England from South Korea in 2006, I met Mrs. Park who somehow ignited my love for the piano which still remains strong to the present day. After four years at Wells Cathedral School, I continued my studies with many wonderful teachers in London, Oslo and Manchester where I currently reside.
I was once asked what makes me feel the most alive in life. My answer then was ‘when I feel that I am contributing positively to another person’s life’. As a musician I am so fortunate to have many opportunities to do this whether it is through performing to audiences, rehearsing with colleagues or teaching. Through fruitful interaction with others, I also find happiness in myself.
Since discovering Robert Schumann during my undergraduate years, his music has remained to be my greatest passion. But as nobody can (or should) only eat chocolate eclairs all the day long, every day, I equally enjoy immersing myself in the worlds of Bach, Beethoven, Faure, Bartok, Rachmaninoff amongst others. Through my recent interactions with Stephen Hough and Graham Fitkin, I have also discovered the exciting joy in working with living composers and playing new music.
As a South-Korean who has lived in three different European cities for more than half of my life, travelling and exploration of new cultures have been my important interests. I love going for long walks with friends in nature and cooking extravagant meals. I also shamelessly watch a vast amount of Netflix and listen to far too much K-Pop once the piano lid is closed at the end of each day.
Biography
Described as a pianist with ‘with great possibilities of nuance and perfect flexibility’ (Revista Arta), South Korean-British pianist Victor Lim is establishing himself as one of the most versatile and creative musicians of his generation. Following his first public appearance in the televised BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2012, Victor has performed around the world in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Romania, China, Singapore and South Korea. Victor is a City Music Foundation Artist, Making Music UK’s Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist and the winner of the 2021 RNCM Gold Medal.
As a musician with tireless curiosity for all genres of music, Victor’s repertoire ranges from Rameau to Kapustin and his interest in new music has led to recent work with Thomas Adès, Graham Fitkin and Stephen Hough. Victor’s affinity with the music of Beethoven has been recognised by two awards from the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, whilst he is known to have a great personal passion for the works of Robert Schumann.
Victor combines his active solo career with his great passion for chamber music. He recently made a studio recording of Graham Fitkin’s ‘Granite’ with BBC Philharmonic and performed as a member of Manchester Collective and Manchester Camerata. He has previously collaborated with Karen Gomyo, Eszter Haffner, Susie Mészáros, Lara Andre’s Tomter and Sandrai Lied-Haga, and currently enjoys close duo partnerships with soprano Xiang Ting Teng and cellist Waynne Kwon with whom the duo won the 2020 Tunnell Trust Music Club Award. Victor was the founding member of the Louko Piano Trio who went on to win all of the chamber music prizes during their time at the Royal Northern College of Music.
An ardent advocate of community music, Victor works closely with Olympias Music Foundation in Manchester and is the Senior Creative Coordinator for Fingertips ASBL and has played a key role in the running of several projects including ‘Tune-in Nepal’, ‘Fingertips International Piano Competition’ and ‘Goldberg by 32 pianists’. As a much sought after teacher, Victor is currently the Director of International Piano Academy and Head of Keyboard Studies at Rossall School and teaches at the University of Manchester. He is also Associate Artist of International Young Musicians Academy and a Leverhulme Fellow of Pro Corda.
Victor trained at Wells Cathedral School with John Byrne and Richard Ormrod, then at the Royal Northern College of Music with Graham Scott, Jeremy Young and Murray McLachlan as an ABRSM scholar. Awards from Help Musicians UK and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust enabled Victor to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Michael Dussek, where he graduated with a Dip.RAM and received the Christian Carpenter Prize for the best final recital. After pursuing the Artist Diploma programme at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Victor completed his studies with Kathryn Stott at the RNCM on its prestigious International Artist Diploma.