October 4, 2011
WIU Symphony Orchestra Concert with Benny Kim
MACOMB, IL – -“Macomb’s own” Benny Kim returns home to play a concert with the Western Illinois University Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall.
The program will include selections from Dimitri Shostakovich and Jean Sibelius. Kim will join the orchestra on the “Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor op. 26″ by Max Bruch and Carlos Gardel’s “Tango (Por Una Cabeza)” arranged by John Williams. The WIU Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Director of Orchestral Activities Richard Hughey.
Kim will also lead a masterclass at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 in the COFAC Recital Hall.
Violinist Benny Kim, a Macomb High School graduate, is the son of Hyung Ja Kim of Macomb, who was an assistant professor of piano and voice in Western’s music department, and the late Hei Chu Kim, a sociology professor at Western.
Lorraine and Kenny Epperson will host a reception for Kim’s family and friends following the concert at the Century 21 Purdum-Epperson Inc. offices at 119 N. Randolph on the East Side Square.
This is the third time in two years that Kim has performed in Macomb. He and his brother Eric performed with the Kim Brothers Trio in April 2010. Kim also performed with the Miami String Quartet in November 2010.
Kim made his solo debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) at age 16. As a high school student, he was concertmaster of WIU’s Symphony Orchestra, and he went on to receive a bachelor’s and master’s degree from The Juilliard School in New York City. Kim was a winner of the 1983 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Julius Stulbery String auditions and the Chicago Symphony Youth Auditions. He performed with CSO for Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson’s second inauguration, and he was a featured soloist.
In 1980, Kim became the only musician in history to win the Young Artist award in St. Louis and the Women’s Association of St. Louis Symphony Scholarship in the same year. After his double victory, a rule was implemented to prevent this rare achievement from happening again so more artists would be recognized.
Throughout his career, Kim has performed as a soloist with such well-known orchestras as Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Hong Kong and South Africa and has participated in the Korean International Festival. In recital, he has performed in two critically-acclaimed recitals at the 92nd Street Y in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He has collaborated with many contemporary leading artists, including Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Jaime Laredo, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Ida Kavafian.
Kim appears with Salerno-Sonnenberg on two recordings for EMI, and since 1995, he has been on the faculty at the UMKC Conservatory of Music.
Copy By: Sarah Tomkinson
