Jung-Ja Kim

Jung-Ja Kim joined the Conservatory in 1972 and is a professor of piano.

Kim has won critical acclaim in the United States, Europe, and Asia for her pianistic brilliance and insight. The New York Times called her debut “[b]rilliant playing, a vibrant, compelling performance," and the Boston Globe has consistently praised her over the years, describing her playing as “arresting,” “a virtuosity of imagination,” and “musical advocacy of a high order.” Recent engagements include a recital at New York's Alice Tully Hall (2014) and Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Seoul Arts Center with the Korean Chamber Orchestra (2016).

Kim made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall's recital hall as a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (1964) and was a winner of the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition (1964). She was selected by Leonard Bernstein to appear with the New York Philharmonic as part of the nationally televised Young People’s Concerts. As a recipient of a Martha Baird Rockefeller grant (1968), she toured in France, Switzerland, England, Holland, Norway, and Germany. In the United States, she has appeared at American venues including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Phillips Gallery, Jordan Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Merkin Hall. Orchestral engagements have included the Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, Boston Civic Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Czech National Symphony. American Record Guide said Kim’s recording of the complete Rachmaninoff Preludes had “a potent emotional current coursing through the music.” Her other CDs include solo piano works by Ravel, Mozart, and Chopin.

Kim holds undergraduate and postgraduate diplomas from the Juilliard School, where she was a recipient of the Olga Samaroff and Frank Damrosch scholarships.

Recent Engagements

• Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 2 (Korean Chamber Orchestra, 2016)—Soloist
• Solo recital (Korea Music Foundation, 2014)
• Solo recital (Middlebury College Performing Arts Series, 2013)