yiruma greatest pianist I've ever heard

Biography

I ru-ma was born in South Korea and was raised and educated in England. Yiruma began playing the piano at the age of five, and subsequently moved to London at the age of eleven (1988), to study at The Purcell School of Music. In December 1996 he participated in the album The Musicians of Purcell (Decca). Graduating from Purcell School of Music in July 1997, Yiruma continued his musical aspirations and completed a Composition major from King's College London in June 2000. While studying at Kings College, this promising pianist released his first album "Love Scene" through DECCA records. Additionally, during his time in college, he participated in a musical tour in Europe. Making a historical impact for his country, Yiruma was the first Korean artist to receive an invitation to perform at the 2002 MIDEM in Cannes, France. Early in his career, his albums were released in Europe and Asia, they are now available internationally through various online sources such as Itunes, Amazon, and Yiruma's recording label STOMP Records. In 2001 he released his most popular album to date, "First Love". His #1 selling song "River Flows in You" was on this album and since 2001 this song has been released on two other albums (First Love [Repackaged] and Wedding Essentials: The Ceremony) Yiruma released his third album, From The Yellow Room in 2003. Pre-order sales topped 30,000 copies and the album was top-ranked on many popular music charts, including Yes24, Phono, and Hot Tracks. His 12-city Korean tour was a sellout, as well as his November concert at the Seoul National Arts Center.

His fourth album is POEMUSIC. In 2006, the following year, he composed a main theme song for a popular KBS drama, Spring Waltz. In his fifth album, h.i.s monologue, he utilized prepared piano. Yiruma has composed soundtracks for musicals, films and plays. While being internationally successful in the world music industry, Yiruma dutifully decided to fulfill his South Korean patriotic duty of serving his country. Hence, in 2006 he gave up his United Kingdom citizenship and enlisted in the Republic of Korea Navy. After satisfying his national duty in the Korean Navy, he began the 2008 Yiruma Come Back Tour, Ribbonized, in 20 cities across Korea. Additionally, on January 1, 2009, he became a DJ for KBS1FM Yiruma's Music from All Around the World.

Musical Style

Yiruma's musical style can be classified as popular. One of his most popular songs River Flows in You,^[5] was re-packaged and placed on a compilation of wedding songs titled "Wedding Essentials: The Ceremony"^[6] Learning his songs is for the more dedicated piano player, yet the sheet music can be easily purchased or found online. Many of his songs have a rhythmic and melodious metre. Many measures of the sheet music have patterns which the audience and the pianist can discover. Although he has been placed into the genre of "Classical" by some listeners, he is actually considered a World Musicor New Age artist. Is it apparent in many of Yiruma's songs that there are some of the residues of classical influence in the note composition, yet Yiruma is not a classical Pianist.