Assistant Principal
Sponsored by Wes and Chloe Horton

Young professional violist Aekyung Kim is a diverse musician and currently the Assistant Principal of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She travels to perform with ensembles such as the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Broad Street Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony, the Novus ensemble, the Music and Medicine orchestra, Handel Festival Orchestra, and Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Kim is passionate about chamber music and using it as a means to engage in educational outreach. She has performed with ensembles such as the Hartford String Quartet, the Leadlights ensemble, the New World Trio, and the Ballard Collective. She has performed chamber music in venues such as the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Lincoln Center, Ozawa Hall, the New York Supreme Court building, and the United Nations Headquarters.

Along with frequent performances in chamber, orchestra and educational outreach concerts, she brings music to the community through teaching. She was on faculty at the Fairfield | Trumbull School of Music for 2 years, a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and Suzuki Certified Teacher, and is currently running her own private studio of around 30 students. Between performance and teaching, she leads a busy lifestyle that gives her the greatest sense of fulfillment in sharing the joy of music-making, and promoting music accessibility to all.

Aekyung graduated from The Juilliard School with both her Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in viola performance. There, she studied with principal violist of the NY Philharmonic Cynthia Phelps, and renowned pedagogists Heidi Castleman and Toby Appel. She has held solo performances at venues such as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Morse Recital Hall, Studzinski Recital Hall, Tilles Center, and participated in prestigious festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, and Sarasota Music Festival. She has worked under conductors Christoph Von Dohnanyi, Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Stéphane Denève, Leonard Slatkin, and Andris Nelsons and collaborated with world renowned artists such as Gil Shaham, Emanuel Ax, and Roberto Diaz. Some of the most cherished moments in her performance career include playing alongside Yo-Yo Ma in the Kennedy Center Honors and performing Mahler Symphony No. 1 at the Koussevitzky music shed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.