Kyung Kim

Associate Professor
Piano
Piano Division
Music Performance Studies Department

Office: MB 320
Phone: (519) 661-2111 x85368
Email: kkim487@uwo.ca

Biography

Internationally acclaimed pianist Kyung Kim is celebrated for her refined artistry, expressive depth, and stylistic versatility. She has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, with recital appearances at Carnegie Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, the Salzburg Mozarteum’s Großer Saal, and the Grand Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), as well as Metropolitan Opera singers. Recent performing highlights include Schubert’s Winterreise, the complete Brahms violin and piano sonatas, and the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven.

Praised for performances described as “hypnotic” and “captivating,” Dr. Kim has appeared as concerto soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, London Community Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Summer Orchestra, St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Madison Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming engagements include a repeat invitation with the London Community Orchestra to perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Her performances have been featured on CBC Radio, Chicago’s Live from WFMT, Minnesota Public Radio, Korean Broadcasting System Radio, and Wisconsin Public Television and Radio.

Dr. Kim’s appearances at international festivals and concert series include the Ocean Music Summer Academy, Euro Music Festival and Academy, Niagara International Summer Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, International Bartók Seminar and Festival, Mozarteum International Summer Academy, Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, Emory University Chamber Music Society, St. Francis Xavier University’s Antigonish Performing Arts Series, Mount Allison University Performing Arts Series, and University of Winnipeg Virtuosi Concerts.

Born into a musical family, Dr. Kim is a graduate of Seoul National University, where she studied with the late Jinwoo Jung, and holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she studied with the late Howard Karp.

A dedicated and sought-after educator, Dr. Kim is Associate Professor of Piano at Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music, where she mentors a dynamic studio of undergraduate and graduate pianists – and exceptional pre-college musicians. Her teaching is deeply individualized, centering on recognizing each student’s distinctive strengths and artistic potential and helping them develop the musical independence, confidence, and artistry to flourish at the highest level. She celebrates the diverse accomplishments of students who have distinguished themselves through a wide range of major competition successes, prestigious fellowships, international performances, and professional appointments.

Recent student achievements include selection as a piano fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California; consecutive selections for the highly competitive Collaborative Piano Fellowship at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in New York; fellowships at the Toronto Summer Music Academy; and recurring selections as pianist for the Canadian Opera Company’s Toronto Summer Opera Intensive. Her students hold university professorships; have earned top prizes in national and international competitions across North America, Europe, and Asia; and performed at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Other recent successes among her pre-college and university students include top honors at the Ontario and Manitoba Registered Music Teachers’ Association Provincial Young Artist Competitions, first prize winners in Western University’s Marista Brookes Concerto Competition, and national wins at the Canadian Music Competition and MTNA National Competition.

Dr. Kim has presented master classes throughout the United States, Canada, South Korea, Europe, and China and served as an adjudicator for numerous competitions, including the Bader-Overton Canadian Piano Competition, Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, ENKOR International Music Competition, and International e-Piano Competition.

An active international teacher and festival artist, Dr. Kim has served on the faculty of the Euro Music Festival and Academy in Poland and most recently joined the faculty of the 2026 Ocean Music Summer Academy at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She has also served as chamber music coach at the Green Lake Festival of Music and as resident pianist and artistic advisor to the Brandon Chamber Players.

Prior to joining Western University, where she has also served as Coordinator of the Piano Division, Dr. Kim held faculty positions at Brandon University and Lawrence University before joining the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as Associate Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Division. At Minnesota, she founded and served as artistic director of the Minnesota International Piano Festival, bringing together distinguished artists and talented young pianists from around the world.

Away from the piano, Dr. Kim has a lifelong love of the visual arts, having drawn and painted since childhood. She enjoys visiting museums and galleries, occasionally picking up a paintbrush herself, and taking walks with her beloved senior dog, Binoo.