Born in 2007, Saehyun Kim is a South Korean pianist based in Boston, MA. On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, he gained international attention after winning the First Grand Prize and sweeping the Audience Prize, the Prize of the Press Jury, and the Prize of the City of Paris Conservatories at the 2025 Concours International Long-Thibaud.

 

Later that evening, he repeated his final round repertoire—Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto—in the Prize-Winners’ Concert without advance notice and performed two additional solo pieces afterward.

 

Prior to his triumph in Paris, he took top honors in the 2023 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, being awarded the First Prize, the Audience Prize, and the Junior Jury Prize. Previous major accolades include first prize in the Morningside Music Bridge International Concerto Competition and second prize (youngest finalist) at the International Tchaikovsky Online Piano Competition for Young Musicians.

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Over the past decade, Kim has performed at venues across the U.S., France, Austria, South Korea, and Japan, such as Jordan Hall, Salle Cortot, Ehrbar Saal, Seoul Arts Center, Yamaha Hall Ginza, and more. He has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre de la Garde républicaine, Canton Symphony, North Mississippi Symphony, Arkansas Philharmonic (performing on Van Cliburn’s personal Steinway concert grand), NEC Youth Philharmonic, NEC Youth Symphony, Korean National Symphony, and Sendai Philharmonic, collaborating with conductors Bastien Stil, Steven Byess, David Loebel, Steven Karidoyanes, Chi-Yong Chung, and Ken Takaseki. He is an alumnus of the Morningside Music Bridge program and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation Young Scholars Program and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, KBS Classic FM, and JTBC Classic Today. In the 2023/2024 season, Kim made his recital debuts at the International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival in Fort Collins, CO, the IBK Chamber Hall of Seoul Arts Center, and the Shinyoung Chamber Hall in South Korea.

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Following his studies at the Seoul Arts Center Music Academy and the Yewon School under Soojung Shin, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, and Youngmi Choi, professor at Seoul National University of Education, Kim moved to the U.S. and continued his musical training at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the NEC Preparatory School, studying with HaeSun Paik, faculty at New England Conservatory. After graduating from both institutions as a recipient of the 2024 Arnold C. Taylor Award for Academic and Artistic Achievement at Walnut Hill and the Piano Department Award at the NEC Prep, Kim enrolled in the prestigious Harvard/NEC dual degree program in the fall of 2024. He is a scholar of the Theo and Petra LIEVEN International Piano Foundation. Currently, he is studying with Dang Thai Son and HaeSun Paik.

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Upcoming highlights for the remainder of the 2024/2025 season include a solo recital for President Macron and the sponsors of Foundation Long-Thibaud (June); a solo performance in Champ de Mars on Bastille Day as a part of “Le Concert de Paris” (July); a recital in Château de Florans as a part of “Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron” (July); and recitals in major cities of his native country (August).