SUNWOOK Kim, the first Asian to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, will open Harrogate International Festivals’ Sunday Series this weekend at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

Now 26, the South Korean pianist was the competition's youngest winner at the age of 18, a success that prompted him to settle in London 2008.

“For me, Leeds was a stepping stone; it opened my career,” Sunwook says. “Afterwards, I had a lot of engagements around Yorkshire; Opera North; Manchester Halle; very important recitals, including London.

"When I go up north, it’s a strange feeling, but I feel I’m going back home. It’s truly fantastic the opportunity it opened up for me. I love it; it’s quite an intimate feeling having concerts there.”

Sunwook is playing the Sunday Series in a year that marks the 50th anniversary of Harrogate International Festivals, an organisation with a tradition of providing a podium for classical protégés, as well as bringing international talent to North Yorkshire each year.

He began playing piano at the age of three in South Korea where exposure to classical music starts at a young age, whereas the Duchess of Cambridge playing Mozart to baby George has made the British news.

Apparently, a theory has it that babies and children can become more intelligent through the "Mozart Effect", the act of listening to classical music. Sunwook finds the Duchess story amusing when it is the norm in his homeland.

“It’s a big issue in our country; you have a kid and we believe the music of Bach or Mozart helps develop their brain. Classical music – all culture, painting, music – all helps rationalise our hectic lives and it’s good learning for kids.”

Did he consider his childhood to have been normal?

"No! I thought it was normal; actually I didn’t have any choice to choose another job or dream for the future. I only focused on music from a very young age, piano at three, violin at six," he says.

"Music is the only thing I’d like to do for my entire life. I like sport, playing football, basketball, baseball, but I can’t play because of my hands. It’s too risky. That’s unfortunate because I love sport but now my workout is just running, no balls. I had two options: music or sport. I’ve never complained as I love what I’m doing”

Beethoven, in particular, made his mark on Sunwook. "Beethoven is something special to our spiritual life and is quite important for my career," he says. "For me his music is quite intimate to everything I want to do with the piano.”

Sunwook may have been hailed for his musical maturity at such a young age, but he demurs: "That’s not what I think of myself; it’s what people say. German composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, are a technical challenge, which is why they say I’m mature. I do believe they have to be tackled when you’re under 30 as it’s difficult to learn when you get older and your fingers are stuck.

"But being mature just means I wanted to discover all the difficult composers – Beethoven, Brahms – when I was young as they are a long-life project, composers I will discover again and again until the end of my life. I chose discovery at a young age.”

Sunday morning brings another discovery. "As a musician, I’m always thrilled to meet a new piano and a new audience, a new venue, so I’m looking forward to Harrogate," says Sunwook.

"The programme – Bach, Beethoven, Mussorgsky – that I’ll be performing is one I have a lot of confidence in, it’s the strongest programme I can make. This is core music I have known all my life.”

Sunwook Kim opens Harrogate International Festivals' Sunday Series, Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, Sunday, 11am. Tickets: £17 or £15.50 on 01423 562303 or at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com