Praised by Washington Post’s The Columbian as a “musician with great poetic phrasing and poised lyrical nature,” pianist Dr. Eloise Kim is a performing artist and passionate music educator. Dr. Kim is currently a Faculty at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she teaches Keyboard Harmony Skills for undergraduate Bachelor of Music students. She is also a staff pianist at Colburn and continues to maintain an active collaborative performance career.
Dr. Kim has won numerous awards, including grand-prize at the Pinault International Piano Competition where she had her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut at age 11, semi-finalist of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and finalist of the New York International Piano Competition. Kim won top prizes in the Lennox, Kingsville, World Piano Pedagogy Competition (dedicated to Leon Fleisher), and Jefferson Young Artists International piano competitions. Kim has also been a featured soloist with the Vancouver Symphony (USA), Jefferson Symphony in Colorado, and the Columbia and Beaverton Symphony Orchestras in Oregon.
An active performing artist, Dr. Kim participated and performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Orford Arts Centre, Banff Music Centre, "Art of the Piano" Festival, and the Lake George Chamber Music Festival, studying with renowned instructors including Jean-David Coen, John O’Conor, Lee Kum Sing, Marc Durand, Jacques Rouvier, Robert McDonald, Awadagin Pratt, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Gabriel Kwok.
Dr. Eloise Kim received her DMA at the USC Thornton School of Music studying with Daniel Pollack and was the recipient of the Outstanding Keyboard Departmental Award from the DMA program. Kim was also a Teaching Assistant and Studio TA at the USC Thornton School of Music, instructing group piano classes and individual instruction at the University. Kim also holds a Bachelor of Music degree at The Colburn Conservatory with Ory Shihor and her Master's at the Manhattan School of Music with Andre-Michel Schub. One of only 20 young artists in the United States to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Arts Award, this grant covered a total of $100,000 scholarship for Kim's graduate studies at MSM. At the Manhattan School of Music, Kim graduated with the honorary Helen Cohn Award in recognition as an Outstanding Pianist in Chamber Music.
Being an active educator and member of the California Professional Music Teachers Association (CAPMT) and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), several of Dr. Kim's research projects and presentations have been featured in national + state conferences. These topics include an in-depth research of Korean composer Isang Yun's piano works and several pedagogical subjects. Dr. Kim's article on "7 Guidelines for Teaching Students with Autism in a Private Piano Studio" won CAPMT Connect "Article of the Year" award in 2021.
Dr. Kim maintains a private piano studio in Los Angeles and is also a piano coach at Tonebase Piano. Her students have won many local and state competition prizes and honors including MTAC branch, MTNA, and Certificate of Merit exams in California. In recent years, Dr. Kim has served as a faculty at the Montecito Music Festival and Tonebase LA Summer Intensive in California.