Musical Masterworks 2007-2008 - Soovin Kim

Soovin Kim

Soovin Kim 
Violin

Soovin Kim has been warmly received throughout the world since capturing first prize at the Niccoló Paganini International Violin Competition in 1996. He was subsequently awarded the honor of performing a concert on "Il Cannone," Paganini's rarely played del Gesu violin. One year later, he received the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award, leading to performance and recording engagements throughout Europe . He was again honored in 1998 with an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was a Bronze medalist at the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He has been the recipient of the prestigious London-based Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award for 2005 

Mr. Kim's musical activities encompass a wide range of repertoire from Bach to the works of living composers. His virtuosity is notable in programs as diverse as the complete 24 Paganini Caprices which he performed on an eleven-concert tour across Italy shortly after winning the Paganini prize to last season's challenge of performing Bach's 6 Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society where he performs again this season. 

He has performed as concerto soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, and the Mozarteum Orchester in the famed Salzburg Festspielhaus. Two recent career highlights were Mr. Kim's appearances at the Salle Pleyel in Paris with the Orchestre Pasdeloup in a concert honoring the late Henryk Szeryng's 80 th birthday and a performance at Carnegie Hall on Christmas Eve with Jaime Laredo conducting the New York String Seminar Orchestra. 

As a recitalist, he has performed in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center , Herbst Theater in San Francisco , and Casals Hall in Tokyo , as well as at Ravinia. Last season he also made his Korean recital debut at the Seoul Arts Center. 

Recent and upcoming concerto performances include engagements with the San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic, a tour with the Syracuse Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Portland Symphony, Erie Philharmonic and multiple re-engagements with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. 

His first CD, lauded by critics and peers, has been released by Koch-Discover, and includes duo works by Schubert, Bartok, and Strauss with pianist Jeremy Denk. 

Mr. Kim is in great demand as a chamber musician and devotes part of each year to touring with the Johannes Quartet, comprised of the concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and associate principals of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Together with violist Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet and cellist Margo Tatgenhorst of the American Quartet, he performs as a founding member of the string trio Divertimento . He frequently participates in the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and on tour, and as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. 

Born into a family of non-musicians, at his request, Soovin was given a violin at the age of four. Soovin has worked with some of the finest pedagogues and artist-teachers throughout the world, blending qualities from various violin traditions. At fifteen, he was invited to study with David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He continued studies with Victor Danchenko and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1999. 

He plays on a 1709 Antonio Stradivarius violin, the "ex-Kempner."