Meet Guest Pianist Younggun Kim "Reunion with Beethoven" 18 June 2022

“…blazing technical capacity and a lush sound supported by a natural phrasing sense”

(Timothy Gilligan, New York Concert Review)

Dr. Younggun Kim is a pianist known for his blazing technical capacity and a lush sound supported by a natural phrasing sense (Timothy Gilligan, New York Concert Review), who has performed across North America and Europe. He is active as soloist, and chamber musician; recently he joined his alma mater, University of Toronto, as faculty member. He is also a sought-after adjudicator.

His solo performances in 2020 were to include a solo appearance with Georgian Bay Symphony, as well as other solo and chamber concert engagements in Seoul, Vancouver, and Toronto. During the Covid-19 crisis, he focuses on communicating through online concerts and broadcasts.

His solo performances in the 2018-2019 season included orchestral engagement with Casa Loma Symphony in Toronto, an inter-disciplinary concert with Korean pop artist Horan in Seoul, recital engagements Vancouver and Toronto, and world-premiere of Walter Buczynski’s piano sonatas. He was also featured in many other chamber music series, including an appearance with members of Korean Soloists in South Korea, the Korean-Canadian Chamber Concerts, Music Friends in Vancouver, and the Arts and Letters Club recital.

The winner of various prizes including San Antonio International Competition, Concours International de Piano Francis Poulenc and Doctor of Musical Arts Recital Competition at the University of Toronto, he also received various prizes and scholarships from the Canada Council for the Arts, University of Toronto, Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canadian Music Competition, Shean Competition, the Alice and Armen Matheson Graduate Scholarship, Anne Burrows Foundation and Winspear Fund. Upon completion of the doctoral degree, Younggun was chosen as the recipient of the Tecumseh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award worth $25000, which is the largest award that the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music offers.

He has also been closely involved since 2011 with the Health Arts Society, providing classical music concerts to audiences who no longer can make it to concert halls.

A Toronto-based Canadian citizen from South Korea, he finished his undergraduate degree at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music with Professor Marietta Orlov, Master’s Degree at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under the guidance of Professor Boris Slutsky and the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Toronto with Professor Marietta Orlov.