Alim Beisembayev rose to international prominence after winning First Prize at The Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021 with a performance of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze. He was also awarded the medici.tv Audience Prize and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society Prize for Contemporary Performance.

 

In 2023, Alim became one of the highlights of the BBC Proms when, with just two days’ notice, he stepped in to perform Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with Sinfonia of London and John Wilson. The performance was hailed as “the kind I thought we could hear only in our dreams” (iNews, Jessica Duchen) and described by BBC Radio 3’s Georgia Mann as “a star is born.” Later that season he received the prestigious Critics’ Circle Young Artist Award 2024.

 

Highlights of the 2025–26 season include debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Jamie Martin), Philharmonia (Adam Hickox), Ulster Orchestra (Tom Fetherstonhaugh), Gävle Symphony Orchestra (Christian Reif), Belgrade Philharmonic (Julio Garcia Vico) and Macedonian Philharmonic (Emil Tabakov). He also returns to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Kirill Karabits) and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Domingo Hindoyan).

 

Recent seasons have seen Alim give the world premiere of Eleanor Alberga’s Piano Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, prompting The Telegraph to write: “there’s no pianist under 30 in the world I would rather hear.” He has also appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Tchaikovsky No. 1), Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra (Tchaikovsky No. 1), Sinfonietta Cracovia (Mozart No. 20) and Janáček Philharmonic, Ostrava (Ravel, Concerto for the Left Hand), among others.

 

As a recitalist, Alim has performed at major venues and festivals worldwide, including the BBC Proms, Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall, Seoul Arts Centre, Carnegie Hall, Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), Chopin Institute (Warsaw), Oxford Piano Festival, Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), and Cliburn Concerts. He has toured Europe with the Steinway Prizewinner Concerts Network and South Korea with the World Culture Network.

 

His debut recording, Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Études, was released on Warner Classics in 2022 to critical acclaim.

 

Born in Kazakhstan in 1998, Alim began his musical education in Kazakhstan and Russia before continuing at the Purcell School for Young Musicians in the UK. He won numerous awards as a young pianist, including at the Junior Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. A major part of Alim’s musical training was under the guidance of Tessa Nicholson, with whom he studied from the age of 14 and throughout his studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he completed both a Master of Performance and an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music under the guidance of Professor Vanessa Latarche.

 

Alim has been generously supported by numerous scholarships, including from the Imogen Cooper Music Trust, ABRSM, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Hattori Foundation, Drake Calleja Fund, and Talent Unlimited