Pianist Kim Se-hyun signs with UK agency Askonas Holt

Pianist Kim Se-hyun, 19, who claimed first prize — with no second prize awarded — and swept four awards at the Long-Thibaud International Competition in France, has signed an exclusive contract with Askonas Holt, one of the world's leading classical artist management agencies, his Korean agency Credia announced Tuesday.

Under the arrangement, Askonas Holt will oversee Kim's global career, while strategic partner Opus 3 Artists will handle the Americas and Credia will manage his domestic activities — a three-way structure that takes effect immediately.

Askonas Holt is a storied agency formed in 1998 through the merger of Harold Holt, founded in 1876, and Lies Askonas, which rose to prominence in the 1950s. Over nearly 150 years, the agency has built the careers of master musicians and managed global tours for leading orchestras worldwide. In 2022, it joined a global alliance under the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, forming an arts ecosystem that spans education, management and recording alongside New York-based Opus 3 Artists and Dutch record label Pentatone.

Askonas Holt's roster includes some of the most celebrated names in classical music: conductor-pianist Daniel Barenboim, Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Evgeny Kissin, Yuja Wang, Daniil Trifonov and Simon Rattle. Korean artists on the roster include Maestro Chung Myung-whun, conductor Yoon Han-gyeol — who won the 2023 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award — baritone Park Ju-sung and baritone Kim Tae-han.

Born in 2007, Kim first drew international attention at the 2023 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, where he took first prize, the audience award and the junior jury prize. In 2025, at just 17, he swept four prizes at the Long-Thibaud International Competition — first prize, the audience award, the critics' prize and a special prize from the Paris Municipal Conservatory — earning wide recognition in the classical music world. France's leading music journal Diapason called him "an artist beyond compare" and "the archetype of a great interpreter." His academic record is equally remarkable: he is currently pursuing a dual-degree program, studying English literature at Harvard University and piano performance at the New England Conservatory at the same time. He studies under pianists Paik Hye-sun and Dang Thai Son, developing a distinctive interpretive voice that blends intellectual rigor with poetic imagination. At a recital marking the release of his Chopin-Fauré album under an exclusive contract with Warner Classics, he performed no fewer than 10 encores to thunderous applause.

In the 2026/27 season, Kim is set to perform with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, both conducted by Maestro Chung Myung-whun. On Sunday, he will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Artistic Director Kim Dae-jin, at the Gyeonggi Arts Center Piano Festival.