Biography
Violinist David Kim was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School. In 1986 he was the only American violinist to win a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
Highlights of Mr. Kim's 2012-13 season includes festival performances, masterclasses, recitals, and solo appearances with orchestras in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, France, and Japan. In January 2013, he will be leading The Philadelphia Orchestra in a week of all-Mozart programs without conductor and in April 2013 will perform as soloist for all of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, also with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Mr. Kim also serves as concertmaster of the All-Star Orchestra in New York City - gathered at the invitation of conductor Gerard Schwarz, and made up of leading musicians from major orchestras across the United States. Beginning in January 2013, PBS will air a series of ground breaking programs committed to education and designed to showcase symphonic masterpieces as well as exciting new American works.
As a highly sought-after pedagogue, Mr. Kim presents masterclasses at schools and institutions such as Juilliard, the New World Symphony in Miami, Princeton, Yale, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Japan, the Korean National University of Arts, and universities and colleges across the United States. He also serves as Artist in Residence at Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia and in May 2011, was conferred the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa.
Mr. Kim was founder and, for 20 years ending in 2008, artistic director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival at the University of Rhode Island, from which he was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts in 2001. In conjunction with the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Mr. Kim founded an annual outreach program that took him to elementary schools, performing and speaking about classical music in an effort to cultivate future audiences. In the state of Rhode Island alone, he performed for well over 12,000 young people during his tenure there. Mr. Kim continues to devote a portion of his schedule each year to bringing classical music to children and visits numerous schools in the Philadelphia area each season.
Mr. Kim appears as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra each season as well as with numerous orchestras around the world. Conductors with whom he has performed include Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Myung Whun Chung, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Oundjian, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. He also appears internationally at festivals such as MasterWorks (USA) and Pacific (Japan), and is a member of the Kumho Art Hall Chamber Music Society in Korea.
The latest additions to Mr. Kim's discography are The Lord Is My Shepherd, a collection of sacred works for violin and piano with pianist and composer Paul S. Jones and Encore, a collection of recital favorites with pianist Gail Niwa.
His instrument is a J.B. Guadagnini from Milan, Italy ca. 1757 on loan from The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Kim resides in a Philadelphia suburb with his wife Jane and daughters Natalie and Maggie. For more information, please follow him on Twitter @Dkviolin