So-Ock Kim Violin

Concerts with The Salomon Orchestra:

October 2002

So-Ock Kim was born in Seoul in 1982 and moved to London at the age of three.   In 1990 she was awarded a scholarship to the Purcell School and in 2000 she entered the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.  Her teachers have included Itzhak Rashkovsky, Felix Andrievsky and since 1994, David Takeno.

At the age of fifteen So-Ock won the gold medal in the Shell/LSO Competition which led to a concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican. Other awards since then include the Emily Anderson and Manoug Parikian Awards from the Royal Philharmonic Society and Kirckman Concert Society and Maisie Lewis Artists’ Awards which led to her Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room debuts. In May 2002 So-Ock was selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust in London.

Over the last year So-Ock’s recitals have included a critically acclaimed concert for the Park Lane Group series at the Purcell Room, concerts at the Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Queen’s Hall (Edinburgh), Auditorium du Louvre (Paris) and the inaugural recital in the Philharmonia Orchestra’s new series at the Royal Festival Hall under the auspices the Philharmonia/Martin Scholarship scheme.

Abroad, So-Ock has given concerts throughout Europe and further afield in Korea, Israel, Canada and Japan. She has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony, the English Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, KBS Symphony and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestras. She recently made her Italian debut performing the Beethoven Concerto with the Orchestra Filharmonica di Torino (broadcast by RAI).

Throughout her studies So-Ock has performed chamber music and frequently taken part in the IMS Prussia Cove series. She is currently a member of the Emperor Piano Trio. Future plans include return visits to the Wigmore Hall, both as soloist and with the Emperor Piano Trio and concertos with ViVA, the Orchestra of the East Midlands and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in Brussels.

So-0ck plays a 1666 Antonius Stradivarius kindly loaned to her by an anonymous donor.  She has also received invaluable assistance from the Royal Philharmonic Society, Musician’s Benevolent Fund, Martin Musical Fund and the Hattori Foundation.

REVIEWS:

‘...remarkable violinist So-Ock Kim, still in her late teens....breathtaking virtuosity...she shaped a powerful performance....magic’ The Times  PLG Series/Purcell Room  January 2001

‘So-Ock Kim....outstanding.  What was so remarkable about Kim’s playing was not only her technical mastery, but also the tenderness and warmth she found...there was an unmistable sense of a personal, emotional involvement with the music, revealing astonishing musical maturity’. The Guardian  PLG Series/Purcell Room  January 2001

‘The first concert on Monday by violinist So-Ock Kim set an awesome standard.  She carried off three highly demanding pieces of very different character with an impressive command of technique, making Ferneyhough’s excruciating Intermedio alla cioaconna sound almost effortless, and discovering a vein of lyricism in Elliott Carter’s austere Riconoscenza’ The Independent  PLG Series/Purcell Room  January 2001

So-Ock Kim is 18 years old and knows no fear.  She played Brian Ferneyhough’s Interdedio alla ciaconne as if it was an ecstatic cadenza she was improvising on the spot, spraying vertiginous glissandi and expansive flourishes in all directions.  The range of colours at her disposal is dazzling....a genuine risk-taking performance’. The Observer  PLG Series/Purcell Room  January 2001

‘Eighteen-year-old violinist So-Ock Kim gave a remarkably assured Kirckman Concert Society recital at Wigmore Hall, with a vibrant programme.  Her big, broad tone sang out in the Brahm’s D minor Sonata and she showed fine sensitivity in the beautifully spun phrases of the Adagio...Kim scaled the incredible demands of Bartók’s solo Violin Sonata with apparent ease in a performance of mesmerising intensity’. The Strad  Wigmore Hall  February 2002

Please note the last likely update of this biography was at the last appearance with the Salomon Orchestra (see list below the photo).

©Salomon Orchestra

2006

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