Saehyun Kim, Winner of the Long-Thibaud Competition 2025, Signs an Exclusive Recording Contract with Warner Classics
Debut album, Chopin – Fauré, released 4 September 2026
Saehyun Kim © Shin-joong Kim
19-year-old pianist and rising star Saehyun Kim has signed an exclusive recording contract with Warner Classics, with his debut album Chopin – Fauré released 4 September 2026.
This news comes after Saehyun Kim’s exceptional performance at the Long-Thibaud Competition in Spring 2025. On the day before his eighteenth birthday, he performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and claimed a sweeping victory at the finals in Paris, where the esteemed jury unanimously awarded him the First Grand Prize. He also won the Press Prize and the Public Prize.
Saehyun Kim’s debut album will pay homage to Paris, the first European city where he ever performed, and the home city of his new label. “It was where my life changed,” he says. The programme is dedicated to solo piano works by Gabriel Fauré and Frédéric Chopin, two iconic figures in the city’s history who helped shape the innovative musical landscape of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Saehyun Kim’s words, the album programme contrasts Fauré’s mesmeric “charm and delicacy” with the riveting “poetry and drama” of Chopin.
The recording features Chopin’s set of 12 Études, Op. 25, alongside one of his most beloved nocturnes (No. 8). From Fauré’s early repertoire, Kim performs the Barcarolle No. 1, Valse-Caprice No. 1, Impromptu No. 2, as well as his very own arrangement of “Après un rêve”, part of the Trois Mélodies set written for voice and piano. The album closes with French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet’s dreamy “En Avril à Paris” (1953).
On his signing, Saehyun Kim said: “I am honoured and thrilled to join the Warner Classics family, among which are legendary musicians whose recordings I have long cherished. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Warner team and Alain Lanceron for entrusting me with the beautiful responsibility of recording timeless works that are dear to my heart. I am looking forward to presenting my debut album with Fauré and Chopin’s music and to my musical journey ahead with Warner Classics.”
Chairman Emeritus of Warner Classics Alain Lanceron added: “Saehyun Kim was not even 18 years old when he won the Long-Thibaud International Competition in March 2025, but as I heard him at the finals I was struck by the extraordinary maturity of his artistry. That he is a player in a class of his own was made evident by the jury’s decision to award no second prize in the competition, though there were third, fourth and fifth prize-winners. The programme for his debut release on Warner Classics, with its imaginative juxtaposition of works by Chopin and Fauré, is tailored to his distinctive talents and personality. It both acknowledges his achievements to date and exemplifies his promise for the future.”
Born in 2007, Saehyun Kim began his music training in South Korea at the Seoul Arts Center Music Academy and the Yewon School, before relocating to Boston, Massachusetts in 2021 to pursue studies at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. In autumn 2024, he enrolled in the dual-degree program of Harvard University and New England Conservatory, where he studies under the prestigious tutelage of Dang Thai Son and HaeSun Paik.
Alongside the Long-Thibaut International Competition, the teen musician has already received accolades at several international competitions and prizes, notably in summer 2023 at the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, where he was awarded the First Prize, Audience Prize, and Junior Jury Prize. He also won First Prize at the 2022 Morningside Music Bridge International Concerto Competition, was named a Winner with Distinction in the 2024 YoungArts Awards, and was the youngest finalist at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians.
Following his success at the Long-Thibaut International Competition, the pianist was invited to perform in front of the Eiffel Tower at the 2025 edition of Le Concert de Paris, an annual, star-studded summer event celebrating France’s national holiday. He also played on stages across Europe in festivals and concerts that included a series organized by the Association Frédéric Chopin à Lyon, as well as the Gstaad New Year Music Festival in Switzerland.
In the next stage of his growing international career, Saehyun Kim joins the distinguished roster of Warner Classics that includes pianists Beatrice Rana, Piotr Anderszewski, Fazıl Say, Mariam Batsashvili, and fellow Long-Thibaud Competition winner Dong Hyek Lim.
His debut album Chopin – Fauré is released 4 September 2026.