Yiruma

Haunting melodies, effortlessly simple yet rich in meaning, combine with elegant harmonies and moments of sublime stillness in the music of Yiruma. The South Korean pianist and composer discovered there was a large audience waiting for his gentle, consoling keyboard works with the 2001 release of his debut album, Love Scene. Its successor, First Love, included the quintessential Yiruma track, “River Flows In You,” a jewel-like miniature that won the hearts of millions after it became associated online with the movie Twilight. Born in Seoul in 1978, he started playing the piano at the age of five, and subsequently relocated to the United Kingdom to study at the Purcell School of Music. After graduating in composition at King’s College, London in 2000, where his teachers included Harrison Birtwistle, he returned to Korea. Yiruma became a fixture in the classical crossover album charts with a succession of solo releases—the exquisite Stay In Memory and Frame among them—and gained a vast new international following during the Covid pandemic.