Daejin Kim
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Daejin Kim is a Korean pianist.
[edit] Biography
He has emerged as one of the most leading artists to come from Korea. In 1985, he won the first prize in the prestigious 6th Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (presently, the Cleveland Competition) held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In recognition of his achievements both in Korea and aboard, he also received the 18th Nan-Pa Music Award, given to a musician who made the greatest contribution to the classical music world, by the Nan-Pa Society in honor of the late Nan-Pa Hong, the maestro of Korea.
In 1986, Kim made his New York debut and received an exceptionally favorable review from the critic for The New York Times who wrote that "Daejin Kim demonstrated all the accouterments necessary for a successful solo career. Kim has what seems to be a foolproof technique and his careful choice of music showed a musician interested in subtleties, not just the usual frontal assaults of bravura repertory. This is a fine young musician, one with the physical means to express his considerable musical intelligence."
In 1987, he was invited to perform with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and since then his international career has taken him to major concert halls in Europe, Asia and the United States as soloist with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, the White Plains Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Nationale de Lille and the Pasdeloup Orchestra in France, and the Sofia State Symphony Orchestra among others, with such noted conductors as Dmitri Kitaenko, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Jahja Ling, Jean-Claude Casadesus and Marek Janowski.
In 1994, Kim and his family moved to Korea and since then he has become a leading example of that rare individual who is able to successfully combine the demanding careers of a concert artist and the most productive teacher. His master classes have drawn international recognition and at the same time, he has been able to maintain a full schedule of performances, besides many appearances as a chamber musician and collaborator, such as the national recital tour (1995), the Schubert Bicentennial Celebration recital (1997) and appearances with all the major symphony orchestras including the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared under the direction of Dmitri Kitaenko with the KBS Symphony Orchestra playing Schumann Concerto and this successful performance led him to appear as soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra to perform two consecutive Chopin's Piano Concertos in the 1998 Orchestra Festival, the most prestigious music festival in Korea presented by the Seoul Arts Center. In 2000, he has given a historical one-day performance of the complete Beethoven's Piano Concertos. In 2001, he has started the cycle of the complete Mozart Piano Concertos which will last until 2005. He has also devoted himself on recordings as he released 3 successful recordings, '4 Ballades by Chopin & 8 Nocturnes by Poulenc (Arcadia label)', 'the Complete Nocturnes of John Field' and the Complete Nocturnes of Chopin' (Monopoly label). His new recording of Two Piano Concertos by Mozart, which he conducted the Polish National Symphony Orchestra from the keyboard, was released on 2004 October.
Daejin Kim holds Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School. He has been a member of the associate faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and guest artist faculty at the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan. He is a currently Professor at the Korean National University of Arts and his students have won the prizes in the major international competitions such as the Busoni, the Viotti, the Ettlingen, the Oberlin, the Cleveland, the Sendai (Japan), the Epina, the Maria Canals International Competitions. In 2002, he was awarded 'the musician of the year' prize by the Music Association of Korea, and he has been designated as "the most famous pianist in Korea" by one of the major newspapers in Korea, the Dong-A News Paper. He got an honor invitation from Yale University and Rutgers University to be a visitor professor.
Recently, he has appeared as a soloist with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchestra, Berlin and for the next season, he will give his recital at Lincoln Center and will appear as a soloist the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Ireland. Kim will be on jury members for the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2005 and the Ettlingen International Competition in 2006 and the Sendai International Piano Competition in 2007. In addition, his students have won first prizes in Ettlingen, Leads, Sendai, and Cleveland International Piano Competition.
