So-Ock Kim, violin

Born in Seoul in 1982, So-Ock Kim moved to London at the age of three. At 15, she was the youngest ever winner of the gold medal in the prestigious Shell/LSO Competition playing the Tchaikovsky concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Hall. At 19, So-Ock was selected for the Young Concert Artists Trust.  Her teachers have included Itzhak Rashkovsky, Felix Andrievsky and David Takeno.

So-Ock has given numerous critically acclaimed performances around the world and at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Hall in London. Abroad she has comprehensively toured throughout Asia, Europe and the US, performing concertos and recitals in the various international music festivals, such as Schleswig Holstein, Beethoven Festival, Ravinia, Mecklenburg, BBC Proms, Radio France Festival and Aldeburgh. Many of her performances have been broadcast on radio and television worldwide, including the BBC, ABC, Radio France, RAI, KBS, Polish Radio and Classic FM.

So-Ock has made numerous acclaimed international performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Sofia Philharmonic, Orchestre Nationale de Montpellier, KBS Symphony, Torino Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Mexico State, and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras. She has recently performed with Krzystof Penderecki and the Polish Radio Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Vassily Petrenko, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera North, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Suwon Philharmonic, Korean Chamber Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra.

So-Ock has a keen interest in the performance of new works and has given several World Premieres that have been recorded for Universal (France and Korea) and Naxos. Future concerts include further performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican and Cadogan Halls, and concerts and recitals in the Casals Festival, Herrenchimsee Festival, and her New York debut in Carnegie Weill Hall. She is also a private teacher, guest performance professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Advisor at Millfield School where she will be Artistic Director of a new Concert Series.

So-Ock currently plays a fine 1706 Stradivarius Violin.

Press reviews

"So-Ock Kim brought a gracious presence to the stage, playing with light-fingered virtuosity and an intense passion" The Scotsman

"So-Ock presented flawless playing with beautiful intonation and bowing...Without a doubt her performance of Bartók’s Sonata No.1 was absolutely awesome – sheer technical brilliance in tandem with power and insight". The Strad

"...remarkable violinist So-Ock Kim... breathtaking virtuosity... she shaped a powerful performance... magic". The Times

"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 unmistakable sense of a personal, emotional involvement with the music, revealing astonishing musical maturity’". The Guardian

"So-Ock Kim ... knows no fear.  She played Brian Ferneyhough’s Intermedio 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