Congratulations to Kwan Yee Lim, winner of the Lucien & Maura Teissier award for Pianists 2026.
This year’s Teissier Prize was presented to Kwan Yee Liam, for her performance of Moszkowski: Étincelles, Op 36 No 6 and Franz Liszt's Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata, S 161, No 7.
One of Ireland’s most substantial music awards, the Lucien and Maura Teissier Scholarship is open to all tertiary piano students including students on the DMus and Professional Mentorship programmes. The Lucien and Maura Teissier Scholarship is generously donated annually by Maura Teissier FRIAM.
The Beethoven “Fidelio” Perpetual Cup for the best performance of a work by Beethoven presented by Eithne and Eamonn Byrne was won by Aidan Keane.
The jury, Professor Vanessa Latarche, Dr Marianna Prjevalskaya and Judith Woodworth FRIAM, had the difficult task of selecting the winners from a strong field of five performers: Johanna Dietz, Aurélie Cimbé, Aidan Keane, Daniel Uman and Kwan Lee Yim.
Kwan Yee Lim - Biography
Kwan Yee began her piano studies at age five and débuted competitively at seven. Her artistry has since been recognized internationally, with awards spanning the UK, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, she won the St. Columb’s Hall Concerto Award 2025 in Northern Ireland and secured Third Prize in the Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2025. Alongside her solo pursuits, Kwan Yee has shown a deep passion for chamber music and collaborative performance. Her concerto highlights include performances of Medtner and Chopin with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1 in Northern Ireland. In 2025, she made her European solo début at the Franz Liszt Memorial Hall in Budapest and gave recitals at Musica Insieme Bologna and the “Claudio Monteverdi” Conservatory in Italy. Upcoming engagements include a collaborative song and poetry project with musicians from the RIAM and the Juilliard School in New York. She has participated in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Armen Babakhanian, François Dumont, Philip Fowke, Murray McLachlan and Anthony Hewitt. After graduating with First-Class Honours in 2024, she is
currently pursuing postgraduate studies under Professor Thérèse Fahy at the RIAM on a full scholarship.