A composer and Korean komungo virtuoso, Kim is a rarity: a musician fully trained in the complexities of Korean traditional music who has been able to integrate her Asain skill and sensibilities with the demands of the Western avant-garde. After she completed her study of Korean traditional music at National High School of Traditional Music and Seoul National University, she came to America for further study and received an M.F.A. degree in electronic music/composition at Mills college. Her music retains the timbral and microtonal subtleties of her Korean heritage while incorporating the similar concerns of experimental music. Whether she is working with electronics or with western or Korean instruments, she strikes a balance of delicacy and power that is unique and evocative. Increasingly well-regarded on the international new music circuit, her music has been performed worldwide, most prominently by Kronos Quartet and by leading chamber music ensembles such as Relache, the Fidelio Trio, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the California E.A.R. Unit, as well as by outstanding solo performers.
Composer Kim's bi-cultural chamber music features American contemporary virtuosi with Korean traditional musicians like National Living Treasure Jae-Guk Chung. Performers include flutist Robert Dick, vocalist Thomas Buckner, oboist Joseph Celli, and the Sirius String Quartet. "This is new music/world music at its finest, beyond political correctness, into the realm of the sublime, where words and cultural postures fall away." The Los Angeles Times
Kim plays the komungo, a traditional Korean six-string zither similar to the Japanese koto. "She [Kim] joins forces with some of the music scene's most singular guitarists for a festival of clever, cruel and witty duets: Elliott Sharp's monster overtones, Derek Bailey's caustic minimalism, Henry Kaiser's brooding electric, Eugene Chadbourne's bluegrass-for-moderns banjo, and David First's whining, whiny slide (matched by her electric komungo). There are also two inspired solo improvs for solo komungo that exhibit Jin Hi Kim's amazing depth and range." CMJ New Music Report
Jin Hi Kim with Adam Plack, Mor Thiam, Rahul Sariputura and Hideaki Kuribayashi. Korean Music Source.
Jin Hi Kim with Adam Plack, Mor Thiam, Rahul Sariputura and Hideaki Kuribayashi. Korean Music Source.