Born in Seoul, Korea, cellist Jonah Kim immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. His father, a pastor at a Korean Presbyterian Church in New York, introduced Jonah to the cello that same year. Despite having no formal musical training, Jonah's father possessed a keen ear for music, and he coached Jonah playing the cello. Jonah figured things out quickly by watching and imitating Pablo Casals from VHS tapes of his performance of Bach’s Solo Cello Suites. Within a year, Jonah was accepted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division with full scholarship where with Ardyth Alton he began his first professional training, including how to read music.
During his first year at Juilliard, Jonah was unsure whether the cello and classical music were really for him. He was attending a New York City public school, learning to speak English, and adjusting to life in the United States. Jonah and his father wrote to Janos Starker at Indiana University for advice. Starker's invitation for Jonah to perform was pivotal, inspiring the young cellist to continue his studies. Starker later remarked, "Jonah is an exceptional talent. He is at the top of his generation.”
Two years later, just before his tenth birthday, Jonah was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. During his six years there, he studied under Peter Wiley, Lynn Harrell, and Orlando Cole, who wrote, "[Jonah] is one of the most accomplished cellists I have taught in my sixty five years on the Curtis faculty.” He has also participated in masterclasses with cellists Joel Krosnick, Timothy Eddy, Stephen Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Marcy Rosen, Andre Diaz, and Ron Leonard among others.
Jonah made his debut with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002 after winning the first prize at the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield Competition. He also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at its pops concert entitled “Stars of Tomorrow” in 2003, on which Joseph McLellan of the Washington Post wrote "[Jonah] sounded like the next Yo-Yo Ma."
Since then, he has performed with Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Redlands Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Jonah has given recitals at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia), the Kravis Center (West Palm Beach), and the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.). He has also appeared in radio and TV programs at WHYY, WITF, MPBN and WXEL, NBC and CBS. During summers, Jonah performs and participates in the Atlantic (Maine), Encore (Ohio), Lancaster (Ohio),Killington (Vermont), Sarasota (Florida), and Kneisel Hall (Maine) music festivals.
Jonah’s passion for chamber music began when he collaborated with his peers at Curtis. He has performed most of the standard piano trio literature with violinist Chen Xi and pianist Yuja Wang. His mentors at Curtis include Joseph Silverstein, Aaron Rosand, Ida Kavafian, Gary Graffman, and Seymour Lipkin, as well as the Guarneri, Emerson, Vermeer,and the Takacs string quartets. Since his graduation from Curtis in spring of 2006, Jonah has been dividing his time between New York City, Prague and Miami.
Jonah is managed by Price Rubin & Partners and Modu Music Co.
Author: J. Cook
July 24,2010
Saturday, 8pm
Webber Paganini Variations with Lancaster Festival Orchestra conducted by Gary Sheldon
Lancaster Festival, Lancaster, OH
July 29,2010
Thursday, 8pm
Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with Lancaster Festival Orchestra conducted by Gary Sheldon
July 31, 2010
Grand Finale with Kenny Rogers
September 17, 2010
Friday, 7pm
Kol Nidrei at B'nai Israel
Boca Raton, FL
October 9, 2010
Elgar Concerto with Redlands Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Jon Robertson
University of Redlands, Redlands, CA
October 10, 2010
Sunday, 3pm
Bob Burton Performing Arts Center, Fallbrook, CA
November 7, 2010
Sunday, 2pm
Recital with pianist Lio Kuokman
Terrace Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C
January 21, 2011
Friday, 8pm
Recital with composer/pianist Sheridan Seyfried
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
"One of the most accomplished cellists I have taught in my sixty five years on the Curtis faculty."
- Orlando Cole (1908 ~ 2010)
"All cellists should hear [Jonah] play. I am stunned!"
- Lynn Harrell
"Jonah is an exceptional talent. He is at the top of his generation."
- Janos Starker
"I have never heard a better, more musically satisfying performer."
- Laszlo Varga
"Jonah is the most outstanding cellists I have ever heard... he has technical command of the instrument that is remarkable and an innate sense of musicianship that makes him a compelling performer."
- Elmar Oliveira
____________________________________________
"[Jonah] sounded like the next Yo-Yo Ma."
- Joseph McLellan
The Washington Post
"Bold, melts into lithe finger work, glistening - never over-played; lush without being maudlin, graceful without sentimentality... played the Dvorak concerto as if he composed it on the spot from his own heart... he sank into Dvorak's love songs with divine artistry and impeccable technique, and synergized totally with the orchestra. Artistry aside, Kim's articulate technique elevated the work beyond poignant. Amazing double-stop work, exact octaves, clean, clear notes in high and low registers, articulate arpeggios - the audience was blessed to textbook-perfect technique. Ah, but Kim's phrasing took us beyond the moment; with light fingering that seemed to barely touch the strings, slight hesitations, breathless lifts, he instilled magic. And then he played Paganini. After 45 minutes with a tough concerto, he unassumingly settled into a cello performance of Caprice No. 24, composed for violin, and left the audience in a second spontaneous standing ovation. All of Paganini's work is practically impossible to play on the violin, let alone on the cello. In the words of principal second violin Art Svenson, Kim is "from another planet."Nothing we could have done could show enough appreciation for what he brought to the audience at this amazing moment."
- Sherli Leonard
The Press-Enterprise
"Kim has a thorough command of his instrument, with a large, accurate technique, a highly tense lyrical style, and a willingness to hammer the cello with forceful bowings if need be. By contrast, he played the long lines of the second movement with restraint and a kind of trembling subterranean emotion that was very effective; in the third-movement cadenza [of the Shostakovich cello concerto], Kim showed he could handle its wide range of drama, from near-static introspection to frenzied mania."
- Greg Stepanich
Palm Beach Daily News
"The amazing young cello soloist Jonah Kim... I couldn't possibly be more excited, or more appreciative of this exceptional concert! A once-in-a-lifetime experience! It seemed to me that Mr. Kim experienced a number of ecstatic moments during the Dvorak cello concerto - and he took me with him!"
- Jane Lorenz
Village News
Jonah Kim, cello Lio Kuokman, piano 1. Sgambati - Serenata napolenata 2.Chaminade - Serenade espagnole 3.Popper - Serenade 4.Popper - Wie einst in schoner'n tagen 5.Popper - Mazurka 6.Popper - Fantasie uber kleinrussische lieder 7. Rachmaninoff - Cello Sonata III Mvt 8.Chopin - Cello Sonata III Mvt 9.Chopin - Nocturne in Eb Major10.Paganini - Caprice No.9 11.Paganini - Caprice No.24 12.Seyfried - Cradle Song 13.Grant - Waltz for Betz
Price:20
Transcribed for Cello
Price:15
II movement trancribed for 4 Celli
Transcription for Cello
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