Chaerin Im and the artists she works with – NSRT x de Kaap, read their bios →
Bio’s in English – Lees in het Nederlands
Chaerin Im – pianist I composer, based in Amsterdam & Seoul
“A defining voice in the new wave of European jazz.”
Chaerin Im’s musical identity is forged in the friction between two worlds. Her journey began in the high-pressure, rigid classical piano scene of Seoul, defined by a hunger for mastery and rapid adaptation. This foundation met its contrast in the Netherlands, where the academic rigor of Amsterdam provided a base, but the social grit of Rotterdam provided the soul.
As the 2026 Artist in Focus, Chaerin explores the “in-between” state. A nomadic artistic existence that refuses to be categorized. This trajectory marks a significant sound shift: a transition from the traditional jazz piano roots toward an electronic, synth-heavy landscape. For Chaerin, Rotterdam is the perfect laboratory for this research; it is a city that feels raw, industrial, and unrefined, yet remains socially open and deeply connected through its large Asian community.
Chaerin Im is the Artist in Focus for North Sea Round Town 2026. From 25 June to 12 July 2026, she will tour Rotterdam with her main project Phase Shift – A Sonic Collision of Seoul and Rotterdam, and a series of special performances in collaboration with various musicians and artists. View all of Chaerin Im’s concerts during North Sea Round Town here. Chaerin Im will develop and perform a total of nine concerts as part of this artistic trajectory.
Explore Explore the full concert series here →
Bio – Chaerin Im
Chaerin Im (b. 1999) is an unbounded and pioneering pianist and composer based in Amsterdam (NL). Her untamed electronic jazz blends influences from Floating Points, Dorian Concept, Salami Rose Joe Louis, and Sam Gendel. Chaerin explores in her compositions how digital processing can live alongside acoustic instruments without losing the energy of a live band. She is releasing a debut EP Olsen with her other project Neon River, and has performed with Jasper Høiby, Jamie Peet, and Reinier Baas at venues and festivals such as Bimhuis, November Music, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Paradiso.
Growing from her foundational roles in acoustic projects like the Sun-Mi Hong Quintet , Chaerin has firmly established herself as a forward thinking bandleader in 2024 and 2025. Her 2025 debut album Midnight Resets (Dox Records) completely abandons traditional jazz expectations. Instead, it crashes shimmering synthesizers and Korean indie into complex rhythmic structures. She continues this experimental streak with her late 2025 EP aïe aïe, featuring Otis Sandsjö, which leans more towards her envisioned hybrid sound.
The Dutch and European industry is paying close attention to this hybrid sound. Chaerin won First Prize at the Keep An Eye International Jazz Award and was named the 2024 Young Artist of the Year by NRC. Her unique sound also secured her a 2025 Edison Jazz Award nomination as a newcomer. Honed at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam , her music delivers a wide screen majesty where melodies constantly transform and evolve. She is the Artist in Focus for North Sea Round Town 2026, during which she will present new concerts and collaborations. Read more about Chaerin Im and the Artist in Focus program here.
Lucas Sim, credits by the artist
Korean City Groove – curated by Lucas Sim
Connecting the beginning and end of this night at Chaerin X NSRT X Pocha, this set takes its inspiration from the unique urban sensibility of the “Pocha.” A place to pause in the middle of the city, where strangers naturally come together, I wanted to bring that sense of warmth, romance, and quiet optimism with music.
City Pop, which emerged in Japan during the ’70s and ’80s and went on to influence Korea and the broader East Asian scene, blends elements of smooth jazz, funk, disco, and bossa nova. It carries the feeling of the city itself, neon lights, high-rise skylines, and that subtle balance between solitude and comfort within a crowd. In a fast-changing world, it often feels like a kind of refined background music that gently reflects and soothes our inner state. The “Korean City Groove” set spans from the golden era of the 80s and 90s, when the City Pop influence first took root in Korea, to the 21st-century sounds that have inherited that warm energy and emotional depth.
In 2026, revisiting this music is not merely an act of nostalgia. I hope that the warm melodies, the romance, the relaxation, and the unyielding optimism found in these tracks reach toward our future. Through songs that possess a timeless sensibility, we will complete the atmospheric flow of this night within the space created by Chaerin and Pocha.
Bio – Lucas Sim
Born in South Korea and now based in Rotterdam, Lucas Sim is a music producer, DJ, and keyboardist. As co-founder of the Cosmic Funk duo KAGAMI, he is known for blending silky and mellow sounds with forward-thinking, progressive elements.
His musical influences span decades, drawing from the grooves of ’70s–’80s Disco, City Pop, and AOR, inspired by artists like Quincy Jones and Tatsuro Yamashita, to the smooth R&B of the ’90s, influenced by Babyface and Teddy Riley. He also embraces the forward-thinking production of modern artists such as Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.
Lucas’ work has gained international traction, including a #25 position on Tokyo’s J-WAVE Hot 100 and over 1 million streams for the 2025 EP TIME MACHINE. His music has received consistent support from Dutch media such as NPO 3FM, alongside editorial playlist placements on Spotify and Apple Music.
Sunstroll, credits by the artist
Sunstroll – based in Rotterdam & Seoul
A South Korean artist moving between guitar-based songwriting, ambient, electronics, and live experimental sound.
Sunstroll is a South Korean musician, producer, and singer-songwriter based in Rotterdam and Seoul. Having spent close to a decade in the Korean pop, R&B, and hip-hop scene as a guitarist, bassist, arranger, composer, and live musician, he has developed a musical language shaped by both professional musicianship and a deeply personal sense of texture. His current work connects guitar-based songwriting with ambient, electronics, field recordings, voice, and live improvisation.
From Session Musician to Solo Artist
Before developing his solo practice, Sunstroll worked extensively across Korea’s contemporary pop, R&B, and hip-hop scenes. His credits include composition, arrangement, recording, and live performance work with artists such as AOMG, Jay Park, Loco, pH-1, G.Soul, Beenzino, HAON, Mokyo, Jooyoung, Katie, and Benson Boone. This background gave him a strong foundation in performance, arrangement, and production, while also leading him toward a more personal artistic language. Rather than remaining only within the role of a session musician, Sunstroll’s solo work reflects a gradual shift toward songwriting, sound-based composition, and experimental live performance.
Distorted Diary and teh sun
His debut full-length album, Distorted Diary (2025), presents an alternative folk language shaped by delicate vocals, saturated textures, memory, doubt, longing, and emotional displacement. Written over several years, the album captures a period of self-questioning and emotional reconstruction, combining intimate songwriting with a tactile approach to sound. Alongside his work as Sunstroll, he also released the instrumental ambient album somewhere to stay not to arrive (2025) under the name teh sun. Originating from improvised flute and guitar duo sessions, the album explores an attitude of following intuition and observing what emerges, rather than beginning from a fixed intention or plan.
Live Electronics and the Netherlands
Since relocating to the Netherlands, Sunstroll has been expanding these two strands into a new form of live electronic performance. Using guitar, voice, field recordings, samples, and real-time processing, he creates performances that move between song, atmosphere, and experimental sound. Based in Rotterdam, his current practice reflects a transition from session musician and songwriter toward a more open-ended artistic identity. His work is rooted in texture, presence, and the search for a personal sound within the European experimental music landscape.
Releases: Distorted Diary – Sunstroll (2025), somewhere to stay not to arrive – teh sun (2025). Artistieke focus: alternative folk · ambient · elektronica · live electronics · gitaar-gebaseerde songwriting · field recordings · improvisatie · experimenteel geluid. Selectieve samenwerkingen: G.Soul · HAON · Loco · Mokyo · pH-1 · Jay Park · Beenzino · Benson Boone
“Drinking Foods”: Bulgogi Japchae and Tteokbokki, credits by Pocha Rotterdam
About Pocha
We are Pocha. We make Korean food in Rotterdam. But more than the food itself, what we want to bring you is the feeling of Pocha, the particular warmth and atmosphere of a Korean pocha, carried across the world and set down on the streets of this city, Rotterdam. That is the work we do.
What “Pocha” Means
In Korea, Pocha is a casual spot where people gather after a long day to eat, drink, and talk. It is loud, it is warm, and it has a way of dissolving the distance between strangers. You sit shoulder to shoulder with people you have never met, and by the end of the night, you have shared something. A plate, a drink, a conversation. It is not really about the food. It is about what happens around the food.
That is the spirit we try to carry in everything we do. Pocha, for us, is a way of gathering. A reminder that even in a fast-moving city, there is always room to slow down, sit close, and share a meal.
Why We’re Part of This Night
When Chaerin invited us to be part of NSRT op de Kaap x Fenix, it felt like a natural fit. This evening is about her personal story, her move from Korea to the Netherlands, and how her roots continue to shape the music she makes today. It is an artist-focused night, built around the people, places, and flavors that have shaped her along the way.
Food is rarely just food on a night like this. It becomes a thread that connects memory to place, the past to the present. Alongside Lucas Sim’s Korean City Groove DJ set and the performances of the evening, we want our food to do what Pocha has always done: bring people closer, make the room feel warmer, and turn an event into a shared memory.
The Food
Because this is an artist-focused evening, we built the menu around Chaerin herself, the dishes she loves most, and the ones she misses most from home.
We open the night with cup tteokbokki. This is the dish Chaerin returns to in her memory more than any other. Chewy rice cakes in a sweet and spicy sauce, served in a paper cup the way it is sold on the streets of Seoul. It is comfort food, street food, after-school food, late-night food. It tastes like home.
Later, once the performances have ended and the after-party begins with Lucas Sim behind the decks, we serve japchae. In Korea, japchae is a celebration dish, the kind of food that appears at holidays, weddings, and gatherings, anywhere people come together to mark something. Glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables and a touch of sesame oil, it is a dish made to be shared among many. We can think of no better way to round off the evening.
Throughout the night, we will also be serving drinks in true Pocha spirit, because in Korea, food and drink are inseparable, and a proper Pocha night is built as much on what is in the glass as on what is on the plate.
Bio – Peter Park, Korean chef & founder of Pocha Rotterdam
Peter (Sungwoo Park) is a Korean chef and restaurateur based in Rotterdam, with nearly a decade of experience in hospitality. His journey began at 18 as a server, before moving into professional kitchens during a working-holiday in Australia, starting as a kitchen hand and working his way up through brunch cafés and restaurants. Back in Korea, he earned his Korean Cuisine Chef’s Certificate and sharpened his craft across a wide range of venues, from beloved Korean fried chicken spots to five-star hotel kitchens. After moving to the Netherlands four years ago, he saw a gap for truly authentic Korean food in the local scene and in 2024, he opened Pocha in Rotterdam to bring it to the table.