Soovin Kim

American violinist Soovin Kim is increasingly sought after for the character, nuance, and excitement of his performances as concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist, both in the U.S. and abroad. Particularly known for his breadth of repertoire, Mr. Kim typically takes on everything from Bach to Paganini to the big romantic concertos to new commissions within a single season. In 2005-06, Mr.Kim toured to all corners of the U.S. – for recitals in the midwest and the eastern seaboard, in concertos of Brahms, Mozart, Prokofiev, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Saint-Saëns throughout the country, and in performances of chamber music in Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Mr. Kim has recorded Niccolò Paganini’s demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin, which was issued on his debut CD with Azica Records in February 2006. He performed the Paganini Caprices at the El Paso Pro Musica Festival and at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in the 2006. During the season Mr. Kim made four trips to Korea, first to tour the country with his ground-breaking piano quartet M.I.K. and subsequently to perform as concerto soloist, chamber musician and solo recitalist in such cities as Busan and Seoul.

Among Soovin Kim’s concerto appearances in the 2005–06 season were performances of works by Vivaldi and Sarasate with the Eurasian Philharmonic in Korea; Mozart with the Indianapolis Symphony; Prokofiev’s violin concerto No. 2 with the Duluth Symphony, and the Brahms concerto with the Bucheon Philharmonic. In past seasons, Mr. Kim has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the North Carolina Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra.

Soovin Kim is a chamber music performer of the first rank and devotes as much time as possible to such collaborations in each concert season. In addition to his performances with M.I.K., Mr.Kim has toured with Charles Wadsworth and Friends (Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott), the Johannes String Quartet (“the highest level in quartet playing” - Philadelphia Inquirer); and Musicians from Marlboro. In recent seasons he has also been heard in recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia and in prominent concert halls in Seoul, Naples, Rome and Hamburg. He has given solo performances at festivals across Europe including Colmar, Verbier, Reims, Montpellier, and Schleswig-Holstein. He regularly spends summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

In 2005 Soovin Kim won the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, bestowed by judges Leif-Ove Andsnes, Mitsuko Uchida, Thomas Zehetmair, Clemens Hagen, Christian Tetzlaff and others on young artists of exceptional gifts at the threshhold of major international careers. Mr.Kim has also won the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award, and first prize at the Paganini Competition.

In addition to Azica’s recording of the Paganini Caprices, Mr. Kim was featured in another recording on Stomp Music released in Korea in early 2006: MIK Ensemble, a collection of new works by Solbong Kim, James Ra, Jae-Hyung Jung, and Yiruma, commissioned for and performed with MIK. Mr. Kim also made a recording with cellists Janos Starker and Zuill Bailey of string quintets of Boccherini and Schubert released by Delos (DE 3344). Mr. Kim made his first duo recording, with pianist Jeremy Denk, for Koch-Discover in works by Schubert, Bartók, and Strauss.

Born in the U.S., Soovin Kim started to play the violin at age 4. At 15, he was accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein; he ultimately moved to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he worked with Victor Danchenko and Jaime Laredo.

Mr. Kim recently married and lives in Manhattan with his wife, Joanne. In addition to his concert career, he has teaching appointments at Yale University and Temple University. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and exploring the food, films and concert life of New York City. He plays the 1709 “ex-Kempner” Stradivarius.

For more information about Soovin Kim, visit these websites: www.kathrynkingmedia.com; www.bbtrust.com; www.williamreinert.com

Biographical information provided by artist maganament.