Dr. John Quentin Kim, Piano

Known for his elegant virtuosity, and hailed as “the most charming . . . vivid, observant artist . . . with personality . . . wit, buoyancy and affection” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland), whose playing “worked magic” and was “simply beautiful” (Goslarsche Zeitung, Germany), pianist Quentin Kim tours extensively in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, having been invited to perform at Alice Tully Hall in New York City,  Salle Cortot in Paris, the Permanent Missions of Korea and India to the United Nations,  and the Residence of the U. N. Secretary-General.  He was the First Prize winner of such competitions as the Grace Welsh International Prize for Piano and the Joong Ang Music Concours of Korea, and has of late toured in Central and South America with members of International Sejong Soloists as a cultural ambassador of Korea.

Students of various backgrounds have come to work with him.  They have shown professional successes, including students who have gone on music programs such as The Juilliard School, and others who are active in such diverse fields as Broadway theatres.  With his reputation as a teacher, he has also been asked to adjudicate regional piano competitions.  Dr. Kim’s teaching philosophy is to help the students understand music and express it with physical ease, while challenging and inspiring them to aspire higher goals.  Demonstrations at the piano and verbal discussions are combined in order to assist the students, making best use of varied methods of learning.

Equally active as a composer of noted aestheticism and emotional sincerity, Dr. Kim has been creating a vivid world of fantasy, drama, and intimacy through his “tireless pursuit of excellence and fascination with beauty” and conviction in the perpetual modernity of tonality.  His music has been praised and favored by the public and professional musicians alike for its “expressive, sensitive and poetic” quality, and the American Record Guide called his compositions “worthy of repeated hearings.”  Particularly acclaimed was the recent premiere of his Variations on an Ancient Korean Melody given by the world-renowned pianist Hai-Kyung Suh in the Jeju Island, Korea.  Quentin received an Honorable Mention for his At the Deathbed for two violins, viola, and violoncello from the 2009 Washington International Competition for Composers.  His music is published by the New York Classical Press (ASCAP).

His principal teachers have included Claude Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jerome Lowenthal, Yong Hi Moon, Soo Jung Shin, and Philip Lasser (composition).  He was graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, with a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, and was awarded an Artist Diploma from Yale University.  In 2010, The Juilliard School named him a Doctor of Musical Arts.

Dr. Kim’s piano album “Romantic Tales” (Blue Griffin Recording) has earned him favorable reviews from the media, including the American Record Guide, which praised his “warmth that is always engaging” and exclaimed that “his range of emotion and color is extraordinary.” 

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