“Jimin Oh-Havenith takes us on a wonderful journey through the works of Johannes Brahms. She demonstrates a rare sensitivity. Nothing sounds artificial, but all the nuances are reproduced in the finest detail. The variations are very convincing. She gives each one its color, its weight and its delicately exfoliated structure. Her interpretations of the Ballads...Read More

There are artists who prefer to perform live, and then there is Jimin Oh-Havenith (1960). The South Korean pianist prefers to record CDs. Following an internationally acclaimed series of albums featuring music by Robert Schumann, Brahms Solo Piano Works, a release containing an extensive Brahms anthology, is scheduled for 1 November. The German label audite...Read More

“Following her first Schumann album »For Clara«, pianist Jimin Oh-Havenith has now recorded two more CDs. The motto this time: »inSANE« and »wild-mild«. You can hear Kreisleriana op. 16 and the Humoreske op. 20 on the first disc, and Carnaval op. 9 and Davidsbündlertänze op. 6 on the second. Jimin Oh-Havenith’s playing has something riveting...Read More

Jimin Oh-Havenith’s three previous Schumann recordings have earned top reviews from international critics. Her third album “wild | mild”, released in early October 2024, was highly acclaimed and was nominated in the category “solo instrument” for the 2025 ICMA in November. Remy Franck, the ICMA jury president, wrote in Pizzicato on 4 October 2024: “She...Read More

It is a good thing that Schumann’s Carnaval and Davidsbündlertänze cycles tolerate a wide variety of interpretations and are interesting in many variations. This is also true of Jimin Oh-Havenith’s recordings. She has fully grasped Schumann’s fantasy and differentiates the Carnaval very delicately, with a lovingly poetic view of the colorful hustle and bustle. At...Read More

“Jimin Oh-Havenith plays Robert Schumann’s first piano sonata F-Sharp minor Op. 11 as if it were a single great fantasy. With her interpretation she especially highlights the various emotions which Schumann let flow into his music. The performer looks deeply into this music. She is not satisfied with superficialities. This is true for example for...Read More

The Kreisleriana, for which Schumann was inspired by the whimsical character of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Kapellmeister Kreisler and which also depicts himself and his Clara, opens this program by pianist Jimin Oh-Havenith at audite. She contrasts Schumann’s Opus 16 between virtuosic playfulness and the utmost tenderness in its two-pronged approach. However, the interpreter does not make...Read More

“Jimin Oh-Havenith has […] these qualities: a lovely warm sound perfect for the numerous moments of quiet reflection in this music—the enchanting opening melody in the second movement’s Aria in the Sonata or the lovely figurative broken-chord progression in the Fantasie’s “Langsam getragen” […]. Jimin Oh-Havenith is an excellent pianist with a quiet, almost understated...Read More

Audite is launching a three-CD series of works by Robert Schumann played by the Korean pianist Jimin Oh-Havenith. Born in Seoul, she studied at the Seoul National University and with Aloys Kontarsky at the Musikhochschule Köln. She performed as a soloist and recorded for radio and CD, also as a piano duo with her late...Read More

With this recording, Audite starts a series of three CDs with Jimin Oh-Havenith. Schumann’s 1st Piano Sonata op. 11 was written in the years 1832-1836 and is dedicated to his later wife Clara. Jimin Oh-Havenith plays it with a mixture of spontaneity and structural superiority that from the first notes of the first movement one...Read More