Concert Pianist Rira Lim will be performing on Monday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Ataloa Theatre of East Central University’s Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.
The concert, which is free to the public, will feature the talents of Lim, a native of South Korea. Lim has played internationally through Asia, Western and Eastern Europe and North America.
She has performed extensively in recital and chamber music throughout South Korea (Seoul, Gwangju), Germany, Bulgaria and the United States, as well as appearing as a soloist with the Gwangju Philharmonic Orchestra, University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra, UNT Canticum Novum, North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, Varna Philharmonic Orchestra and Vratza Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lim has also performed at several international music festivals in the U.S. and Europe, including the Dallas Beethoven Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the International Weimar Masterkurse.
She began to learn the piano at the age of four in her native South Korea. Within six months after starting her piano studies, Lim won a special prize in a piano competition in Gwangju, playing one of Clementi’s piano sonatinas. At the age of 14, she made her orchestral debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19, K.459 with the Gwangju Philharmonic Orchestra. At 17, she performed Saint-Saens’s Second Piano Concerto, Op 22 at a concert celebrating the opening of the first Gwangju International Biennale.
Lim continued her career as a soloist with orchestra, playing Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto, Op. 58 with the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, at the age of 19.
After receiving her musical training at the prestigious Yonsei University in Seoul, she moved to the United States to further her studies and musical career. As a pupil of famed pianist Joseph Banowetz, Lim earned her master of music degree and doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance from the University of North Texas.
She has been awarded prizes in several international piano competitions.
As a collaborative pianist, Lim has also played with leading professional instrumentalists, as well as appearing internationally. Lim and her brother, Joseph (Yosub) Lim, have performed in several chamber recitals together in South Korea, Germany and the U.S. Joseph Lim is a violist and a member of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
Rira Lim was previously appointed to the position of Artist-in-Residence in Collaborative Piano and served as an adjunct professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Since 2010, she has moved to Seoul, South Korea and built a successful performance career while holding positions in several universities in Korea.