Yunchan Lim's 'Goldberg Variations' Carnegie Hall Concert Coming in 2026

Decca Classics will release Yunchan Lim: Bach, Goldberg Variations ‘LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL’, on February 6, 2026. The concert was recorded on April 25, 2025, at Carnegie Hall, and the full concert film will be available on STAGE+ and Carnegie Hall+ starting from February 6, 2026. Listen to the first single now.

Lim describes the Goldberg Variations as “a journey of life in music — from the first opening of our eyes in the Aria, through thirty deeply human variations, to the final Aria, when our eyes gently close.” He reminisces, “The first time I heard Bach’s Goldberg Variations was when I was eight years old and I discovered a box set of Glenn Gould’s Bach recordings. When I first listened to it, I was amazed by its grandeur and beauty, and it has remained close to my heart ever since. I’ve dreamt of releasing this piece as a live album from Carnegie Hall.”

Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall, Sir Clive Gillinson, explains in the album sleeve notes, “Following Yunchan’s winning performance at the Cliburn Competition, our artistic planning team made one of our easiest decisions ever in immediately offering him a solo recital in our main hall… We knew we were listening to a very special artist at the start of what will undoubtedly be an extraordinary career, an artist who will bring inspiration to audiences worldwide for a very long time.”

Lim's debut studio recording, Chopin Études (Decca Classics, 2024), made history at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2025 as the first artist to take home three awards for one recording. The album also went quadruple Platinum in Korea, won the Diapason d’or de l’année in France, and topped charts internationally. Lim’s second Decca release, his live recording of Rachmaninoff No. 3 (Decca Classics, 2025,) is the most-watched version of the concerto on YouTube with over 17 million views. 

Lim’s concert appearances include sold-out debuts at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the BBC Proms 2024 at The Royal Albert Hall. Lim’s 2025-26 season includes a series of high-profile engagements across the United States, Europe, and Asia. He performs at Santa Cecilia Hall, Rome (November 13–15) and Taipei’s National Theater and Concert Hall (November 25), before returning to Chicago (December 18–20). Early 2026 brings concerts at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (January 15 and 18), Konzerthaus Dortmund (January 16), Kulturpalast Dresden (January 21), and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (February 12–15). March sees three Paris appearances at the Philharmonie and Cité de la Musique (March 11–13), followed by Boston’s Symphony Hall (March 19–22), Carnegie Hall, New York (April 24), Seoul Arts Center (May 12), Wigmore Hall, London (May 29), and finally Gewandhaus Leipzig (June 18–21).