Joachim Raff was a largely self-taught composer whose style stands somewhere between the German traditionalism of Schumann and the newer school of Wagner. Raff composed seven Suites for Piano, a form he preferred to the sonata, and this provided him with greater freedom as a composer, resulting in his most substantial contribution to the piano literature. This is reflected in the Mendelssohn-like lyricism of the First Suite; contrasts between Baroque and Romantic styles in the Third Suite, a piece admired by Liszt; and more nationalist inclinations in the memorably melodic Fifth Suite.

Hyelim Kim is a prizewinner of major international piano competitions, including the Clara Haskil (Vevey) and Arcangelo Speranza (Taranto) International Piano Competitions, Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, Les Étoiles du Piano (Roubaix), and the Annarosa Taddei International Competition (Rome). She made her orchestral debut at the age of ten with the Filarmonica ‘Mihail Jora’ Bacău and has since appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, Zermatt Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Picardie, Gürzenich Orchester Köln and Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc, among others. Kim has performed in Korea and across Europe at venues such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Kölner Philharmonie, Flagey Brussels and TivoliVredenburg Utrecht. She has been invited to perform at festivals including Piano Folies du Touquet, Festival de Saint-Riquier and Musica Nigella. Born in South Korea, she began learning the piano at the age of five and moved to Germany at seventeen to study with Georg Friedrich Schenck. Kim holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and a Master’s degree from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where she is continuing her Konzertexamen with Claudio Martínez-Mehner and Nina Tichman. In 2023, she received a scholarship from Fondation Clavarte in Bern.