Praised for her “musical maturity and masterful technique,” (Leipziger Volkszeitung) Korean-born violinist Dr. Soo Yeon Kim joined Houghton as an Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola, as well as the Director of String Chamber Ensemble since Fall 2018. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School with her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with a full scholarship, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Eastman. Previously, she has taught as a secondary violin instructor at the University of Rochester and as a violin faculty at the Thurnauer School of Music of Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in NJ.

As a dynamic recitalist, Dr. Kim performs throughout the country and abroad, including in Europe and Asia. She has appeared in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall and Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center, Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, St. Cecilia Music Center, Luzerne Music Center, Yamaha Hall at Ginza in Japan, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hall in Germany, as well as in Holland and South Korea. As a soloist, she has garnered both national and international recognition and has soloed with Korean Sinfonietta, Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, New Jersey High Mountain Symphony Orchestra, City College of New York Orchestra, Amherst Symphony Orchestra, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, among others. As an avid chamber musician, she has worked closely with the New Juilliard Ensemble and Focus! Festival at Lincoln Center and premiered a number of contemporary chamber works by living composers around the world including Andrew Ford and Aleksander Lasoń, which were live-streamed on New York’s Classical Radio Station, WQXR. Her recent premiere of the renowned contemporary American composer Samuel Adler’s A Euphonious Quartet is now available on major digital platforms, including Spotify and iTunes. She has also been featured in major music festivals both in Europe and in the U.S. including Kronberg Academy Festival and Leipzig Internationale Sommer-Musikakademie in Germany, Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands, the Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard in NYC, and American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

As a sought-after pedagogue and music clinician, she has been regularly invited to give masterclasses at universities, music centers for younger students, and private instrumental teaching studios, sharing a mind-body approach to playing and perceiving music. She has also been offered to teach at music festivals, such as Luzerne Music Festival in Lake Luzerne, Bayview Music Festival in Michigan, and Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy. For more information about her teaching and performing schedule, please visit her website at sooyeonkimusic.com.