Stephen Kim

American violinist Stephen Kim gained his Bachelor of Music degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joseph Silverstein and Aaron Rosand. There, he received the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fellowship and was awarded the Curtis/Milka Violin Artist Prize in 2018. He gained his master’s degree at the Juilliard School under Hyo Kang.

Most recently, Stephen Kim won 3rd prize in the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition, 3rd prize in the 2018 Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and 2nd prize at the 2016 Sendai International Music Competition. Yet even in earlier years Kim was already winning many awards, such as in the 2015 Seoul International Violin Competition and the 2014 Menuhin Competition. He was also the first violinist in the history of the Aspen Festival to win all three of the event’s violin competitions in 2014, 2013 and 2011.

As a soloist, Stephen Kim has performed in North America, Europe and Asia with internationally acclaimed orchestras, including the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Brussels Philharmonic, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra. Concert tours have taken him to Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau and Belgium. He has given recitals at the Verbier Festival Academy, in the recital series of the Stradivari Society and at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he gave a charity performance in Seoul for young disabled musicians and also gave masterclasses there as a way of passing on his passion for music.

As a chamber musician, Kim has worked with Jörg Widmann, Edgar Meyer, Gary Hoffman and Roberto Díaz. He has been a guest leader of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and performs frequently with the Sejong Soloists in this role.

Stephen Kim plays an “ex-Moller” Guarneri del Gesù dating from 1725, which is generously loaned to him by the Samsung Foundation of Culture and the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Since October 2021, he has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Antje Weithaas. These studies are funded by the Svea and Sven Dambeger patronage.