Praised by The Washington Post as “a deeply gifted musician” with “an exceptional sense of lyricism” and “near-flawless technique,” cellist Hee-Young Lim has established herself as one of the most charismatic and captivating artists of her generation.

A musical prodigy from an early age, she was accepted into the preparatory division of the Korea National University of Arts at age 11 in 1998 and won her first major prize that same year at the Ewha-Kyunghyang Competition. In 1999, she was selected for the Kumho Foundation’s Prodigy Recital Series, making her debut the following year. Since then, she has been regularly invited to perform in the Kumho Foundation’s Young Artist Concert Series, Rising Star Series, and Thursday Recital Series. At 19, she made her U.S. solo debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., launching a career that has taken her to many of the world’s most prestigious stages.

After graduating from Yewon Arts Middle School, she began undergraduate studies at the Korea National University of Arts at age 15. She earned her master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, completed the Konzertexamen at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, and graduated with the highest distinction, mention très bien à l’unanimité, from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

As a soloist, she has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, the Seoul Arts Center, and Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. She has appeared at festivals including the Edinburgh Festival, Verbier Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival, and Korea’s Symphony Festival, where she gave the Korean premiere of Milhaud’s Cello Concerto with the Gangnam Symphony Orchestra. Her concerto engagements include performances with the Houston Symphony, Budapest Radio Symphony, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Zagreb Soloists, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, and Baden-Baden Philharmonic, among others.

She has won numerous international competitions, including First Prize at the Washington International Competition for Strings, First Prize at the Sorantin International Competition, the Silver Medal at Houston’s Ima Hogg Competition, and Third Prize at the Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw. In Europe, she was awarded the Grand Prix at the Festival de Musique de Chambre en Normandie, was a laureate of the Cziffra Foundation in France, and received both the Lion Prize and Brahms Special Prize at the Carl Flesch Academy in Germany. In 2018, she was honored with the Prime Minister’s Commendation from South Korea’s Ministry of Culture for her artistic contributions.

Hee-Young has released five albums under the Sony Classical label. Her debut recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring French cello concertos and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, was praised by Gramophone for its “exceptionally refined, silkily lyrical sound,” and by BBC Music Magazine, which wrote: “Lim outshines her contemporaries in the warmth and expressiveness of her tone, which is of truly rare beauty.” Her discography also includes Duet with her mentor Philippe Muller, Russian Cello Sonatas, and a critically acclaimed album of works by seven contemporary Korean women composers, supported by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. Her eagerly awaited recording of the complete Bach Cello Suites will be released soon, following performances of the full cycle at the Zhuhai International Festival and in Beijing.

A passionate educator, she has published pedagogical editions of core cello repertoire and orchestral excerpts. She is a sought-after teacher, having given masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Chicago’s DePaul University, and the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatoire in Paris. She previously served as principal cellist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and currently serves as Professor of Cello at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.