Biography
Characterized by her penchant for authentic and scholarly interpretation of musical arts, Choah Kim has been a lifelong pianist of versatile qualities. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Kim has been performing at numerous distinguished venues throughout the United States and Asia as a solo pianist and chamber musician, including but not limited to: Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall; Tsai Performance Center (Boston University); the Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Maxwell Auditorium (Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, MA); Hilda and Douglas Goodwin Recital Hall, Cohen-Davidson Family Theater, and Leith Symington Griswold Hall (Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University); Druker Auditorium (Newton Free Library, Newton, MA); Youngsan Art Hall, Youngsan Grace Hall, Ewon Cultural Center (Seoul, South Korea); Yongji Hall and Suseong Artpia (Daegu, South Korea); and the Chopin Festival ‘Chopin Cometh’, and the Schumann Festival, among other prestigious platforms.
Dr. Kim has received a number of notable awards and prizes: The Music Education Newspaper Competition, the Haneum Music Competition, the Ari Music Competition, the Shinye Music Competition, the Universal Music Competition, the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, the CAI Virtuoso International Competition, the Anne and Aaron Richmond Competition, and Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award, among others.
Dr. Kim began her music education with Sunhwa Arts (Middle) School—an exclusive performing arts institution established for young musicians—and Sunhwa Arts High School in South Korea. She obtained her Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University, graduating Summa Cum Laude under the tutelage of Hyungbae Kim and Kwihyun Kim. Subsequently, Dr. Kim received her Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University under Alexander Shtarkman and obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree at Boston University, publishing the dissertation “The Choreographic Character Piece for Piano Solo, Cinderella by Prokofiev.”
Her scholastic accolades include the following: Merit scholarships from Sunhwa Arts High School, Seoul National University, and the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, as well as the Graduate Association Scholarship award from Seoul National University, the Peggy and Yale Gordon Accompanist Recognition Prize from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, and the Aaron Richmond Scholarship from Boston University. Dr. Kim was also inducted into the music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda when she obtained her DMA degree.
For more than a decade, Dr. Kim has had numerous opportunities to work and collaborate with all types of musical professionals, including singers and instrumentalists. Over the course of her graduate-level study at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, she served as a pianist/accompanist at the Conservatory, Opera Department, and Preparatory. In particular, she served as a pianist for the Peabody Institute’s opera productions, including the Peabody Opera Potpourri of “An Operatic Lollapalooza.” In addition, Dr. Kim accompanied numerous recitals and projects for various choirs and churches since she was 10 years of age.
As an educator, Dr. Kim appeared as a judge panelist of multiple youth piano competitions throughout Boston, and has received Certificate of Recognitions for Excellence in Pedagogy from the National Young Maestro Competition, Golden Key International Music Festival, and International Music and Arts Society. Also, she taught various Group Piano Lessons and applied lessons for both music and non-music major college-level students at Boston University over the course of her doctoral study. Dr. Kim's students are winners at regional and international competitions and have continued to achieve notable success across grade examinations and perform at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Kaufman Music Center, and Baruch Performing Arts Center, among others.