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Korean pianist Rira Lim will preview her upcoming performance in New York's Carnegie Hall at 3 p.m. Sunday [OCT. 11] at the Ada Arts & Heritage Center. The concert is part of the East Central University Piano Concert Series. Admission is free.

Photo of Rira LimShe will perform transcriptions of three Scarlatti sonatas by Enrique Granados; "Nocturne, Op. 33," and "Ballade, Op. 46," by Samuel Barber; "Preludi Autunnali" and "Poemi Asolani" by Gian Francesco Malipiero; and "Sonata in B minor" by Franz Liszt.

Lim has performed extensively in recital and chamber music throughout South Korea, Germany, Bulgaria and the United States.

Born in Gwangju, South Korea, she started learning piano at the age of four. Within six months, she won a special prize in a piano competition in Gwangju, playing one of Clementi's piano sonatinas. At age 14 she made her orchestral debut performing a Mozart concerto with the Gwangju Philharmonic Orchestra, and at age 17 she performed a Saint-Saëns concerto at a concert celebrating the opening of the first Gwangju International Biennale.

She also played a Beethoven concerto with the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra at age 19.

After receiving her musical training at Yonsei University in Seoul, Lim moved to the United States and studied with famed pianist Joseph Banowetz and pursued advanced degrees at the University of North Texas.

She previously was an artist-in-residence in collaborative piano and an instrumental and vocal coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She is now preparing a recording project for Naxos label.

Lim has been awarded prizes in such international piano competitions as the 2004 Wiesbaden International Piano Competition, the 2005 International Symphonic Workshops Competition and the 2006-07 University of North Texas concerto competition. Part of her prizes included invitations to perform with orchestras.

Lim and her brother, Joseph (Yosub) Lim, a violist and member of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, have performed together in several chamber recitals in South Korea, Germany and the United States.

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