Haeji Kim, Violin

Biography

Haeji Kim, 18, despite having grown up in Bloomfield Hills, MI, originates from Flushing, NY. She has appeared as a soloist with the Birmingham-Bloomfield, Dearborn, Marquette, Northern Lights Music Festival, and Rochester Symphony Orchestras. She has also participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall in 2012 as a violinist and in 2014 as principal violist. Other honors include first prize at the New York Young Music Artists auditions, resulting in a solo debut at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, first prize in the Michigan Federation of Music Clubs Stillman Kelley Competition, and grand prize in the solo competition of the Michigan chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Among some of the festivals she has attended are Summit Music Festival, Triada Music Festival, Pilsen International String Academy, Cambridge International String Academy, and Center Stage Strings and has participated in masterclasses with Midori, Rodney Friend, Ida Haendel, and Kim Kashkashian.

She began violin lessons with Sharon Rothstein at age six, switching to the viola at age sixteen. Her teachers have included Dmitri Berlinsky, Geoffrey Applegate, Almita & Roland Vamos, Christina Khimm, Aaron Rosand, Danae Witter, and Stephen Shipps and Caroline Coade of the University of Michigan. She was drawn to the viola by its depth of the C string while experiencing it first-hand during school orchestra in measures 23 & 24 of the 4th mvt of Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and greatly appreciates how in a way it bridges the violin and cello worlds on a broader scale (including of course, the other instrumental cousins) and also settles her sentiments of desiring to have played the cello as well. She aspires to break common violistic stereotypes and also expand the semi-limited repertoire by arranging current classic works and also by studying the layout of the instrument so that these “different versions” may be appropriately fitting.

Kim’s passion for Brahms and German composers lies deep in her bones and she is also growing to appreciate and love Bach more and more by the day. Nonetheless, she takes joy in exploring and learning and appreciates a variety of composers and genres, currently involved in the Kurtag and Ligeti (Sonatas for Solo Viola) projects at school. Outside of the practice room, Haeji indulges in photography, nature, ping pong, snow (when in season), walking the dogs in the window of the pet shop down the street, late night food and bubble tea explorations, and occasional cooking attempts. She currently studies with Roberto Díaz as a Susan Dewar DeCamp Annual Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA.