Pianist Im Yunchan performs Bach's "Goldberg Variations" at Carnegie Hall in New York on April 25, 2025. [Universal Music]
Pianist Im Yunchan performs Bach's "Goldberg Variations" at Carnegie Hall in New York on April 25, 2025. [Universal Music]

Pianist Im Yunchan has won the Opus Klassik 2026, Germany's most prestigious classical music award. Following Cho Seong-jin's win last year, Im's victory marks the second consecutive year a Korean pianist has taken the prize.

Im was named Instrumentalist of the Year for his album "Bach: Goldberg Variations," released in February, according to his agency Mok Productions and Opus Klassik on Sunday.

Among the major individual award recipients at this year's ceremony, Im set a new record as the youngest winner, cementing his role as a generational force in the global classical music world.

The win also marks a milestone in Korean classical music history. Opus Klassik was established in 2018 as the successor to the Echo Klassik, which had served as Germany's equivalent of the Grammy Awards from 1994 to 2017, and remains the country's most authoritative classical music prize.

Counting back to the Echo Klassik era, the first Korean recipient was violinist Sarah Chang, who won the Promising Artist category in 1994, making a strong first impression on European critics. In 1997, cellist Jang Han-na — now president of Seoul Arts Center — won the Young Artist of the Year award for her cello debut album featuring Saint-Saëns concertos. She went on to win the Best Concerto Recording award in 2003 for an album of Prokofiev works recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano. In 1998, the Ahn Trio won the Chamber Music category for their EMI debut album. Oboist Kwak Yeon-hee received the Young Artist award in 2001 and a recording prize in 2007 for an album (MDG) featuring Piazzolla's tango études for solo oboe and études by Silvestrini.

After the award was rebranded as Opus Klassik, the first Korean winner was pianist Cho Seong-jin, who received the Instrumentalist of the Year award last year for "Ravel: Complete Solo Piano Works." Soprano Park Hye-sang won in the Opus Klassik School category in 2024.

Since releasing his debut studio album "Chopin: Études" in April 2024, Im has swept every major European classical award in roughly two years and two months — an unprecedented achievement.

His winning streak began with a double win at the Gramophone Awards in Britain — the Piano Recording and Young Artist of the Year categories — followed by France's Diapason d'Or in the Young Musician category and a triple win at the BBC Music Magazine Awards.

Im's international schedule remains packed through the second half of the year. Having recently made a successful debut with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under conductor Andris Nelsons performing Schumann's concerto, he is set to appear next month at the Ravinia Festival in the United States (conducted by Marin Alsop), the BBC Proms opening concert in Britain (conducted by Dalia Stasevska), and the Verbier Festival.

This year's Opus Klassik selected just 37 performers and ensembles across 28 categories from more than 680 submissions. Nelsons, who recently performed with Im, won Conductor of the Year, while pianist Alexander Malofeev took the New Artist of the Year award. The awards ceremony and gala will be held over two days — Oct. 10 and 11 — at Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany.


shee@heraldcorp.com