Achmad Kevin Ihza: Michelle Kim

Violinist Michelle Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and started piano lessons at age five before switching to violin. After her family moved to southern California, she made her debut at age 10, playing Vivaldi's Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra. Ms. Kim has won numerous solo competitions and played with orchestras in Los Angeles, Berkeley and New York.

She has performed in many festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, the Salzburg Mozarteum Academy Festival, Music and Sound at the Banff Centre, the New York String Quartet Seminar and recently the In Spiritum International Festival in Porto, Portugal.

Ms. Kim is frequently heard in recitals as both a chamber musician and a soloist. In 2010, she was guest concertmaster of the New England Symphonic Ensemble in a premiere performance of Oh My Son in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at the Carnegie Hall. She was also concertmaster of the Summer Opera Theatre Company at the Harman Center, the Washington Savoyards at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Teatro Lirico at the Gala Hispanic Theater, and the Opera Camerata of Washington at The Metropolitan Club of DC. She has performed with Vanessa Williams, Beyonce, Willy Nelson and Gwen Stefani at the Kennedy Center Honors, and in concerts with Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart, Phillip Phillips and Clay Aiken.

“Each person has the power and responsibility to make positive changes in the world and to use their talent to inspire and help,” Ms. Kim said. "Culture is a powerful tool in our lives that transcends boundaries. The arts bring people together and give hope and opportunities to all.”

Ms. Kim is the founder of Culture Saves (www.culturesaves.org), a global non-profit organization that restores hope and promotes peace in troubled areas through the arts. She has united many world-renowned musicians and artists to inspire people suffering from hardship.

Ms. Kim has been the featured entertainer on both the electric and acoustic violin at various charity events and diplomatic functions. For the last three years, she has performed the electric violin at the Italian Embassy for Becky's FundWalk This Way Fashion Show. Ms. Kim played Bach's Partita No. 3 for the Institute for Korean-American Studies Liberty Award Dinner honoring Ambassador Christopher R. Hill at the US Senate Russell Building. In 2014, she performed for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo at the US Institute of Peace.

As a Musica Aperta member, she performed chamber music for DC Public Schools that introduced classical music and basic theory and harmony to students.

Ms. Kim has been a first violin section member of Washington National Opera Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a scholarship student of Laurie Carney of the American String Quartet. In addition to holding a Master's Degree in Music, Ms. Kim has a Bachelor's degree in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley where she was awarded the Alfred Hertz Memorial Scholarship to study music in New York City.

Wings of Icarus, Celldweller

violin solo, Michelle Kim