24, from Seoul, South Korea. Now Lives in New Haven, CT.
Applauded by the Calgary Herald as “…talented, sensitive…brilliant,” Jiji is an adventurous artist on both acoustic and electric guitar, playing an extensive range of music from traditional and contemporary classical music to free improvisation. Her impeccable musicianship combined with compelling stage presence and fascinating repertoire earned the Korean guitarist First Prize at the 2016 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She is sponsored by D'Addario Strings.
Upcoming engagements include her New York Recital debut at Weill Recital Hall on the CAG series, 92nd st Y Guitar Fest, and numerous other performance prizes resulting from her CAG victory, including a recital at Festival Napa Valley in July 2017.
Among her recent concerto performances, she appeared as guest soloist with Kansas City Symphony, led by Carlos Miguel Prieto, where The Kansas City Star described her as “A graceful and nuanced player,” adding that “…she presented an intimate, captivating performance.”
In recital, she has performed in a wide array of venues, including: Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Miller theater, Mass MOCA, Subculture NYC, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Princeton Sound Kitchen, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her recent tour in Hong Kong consisted of performances collaborating with a performance Artist, a traditional Chinese instrument ensemble, and an Erhu player in art galleries, clubs, and even on a moving trolley.
Jiji’s performances have been featured on PBS (On Stage at Curtis series), NPR’s From the Top, WHYY-TV, FOX 4-TV, Munchies (the Vice Channel), The Not So Late Show (Channel 6, Kansas), and Hong Kong broadcast station RTHK’s The Works.
A passionate advocate of new music, Jiji has premiered a duo piece Talking Guitars by renowned composer, Paul Lansky, and her subsequent studio recording of that work (with young Chinese guitarist Hao Yang) will be released on Bridge Records in the 2017-18 season. As a recipient of the 2017 BMI commissioning award, she commissioned Nina C. Young for a new guitar piece scheduled to be premiered in 2018. She has premiered works by numerous emerging composers, including Gabriella Smith, Riho Maimets, Krists Auznieks, Gulli Björnsson, Andrew McIntosh, and Farnood HaghaniPour. She also performs her own compositions, incorporating electronic media and acoustic music, and she currently works as a composer with the Yale Repertory Theater, Yale Cabaret, and Yale school of Art. Her music is influenced by her regular activities as a DJ, where she highlights the electronic dance styles of happy hardcore and Berlin experimental electronica.
As a chamber musician, she performed with members of Eighth Blackbird, members of one beat project, members of Bang on a Can All-Stars, Tanglewood Chamber orchestra, Wild Up, The Industry, cellist Tessa Seymour, and the Aizuri Quartet.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Jiji (Jiyeon Kim) began playing classical guitar at the age of nine, and was accepted to the Korea National University of Arts at age fourteen. She attended the Cleveland Institute of Music for two years, where she studied with Jason Vieaux, and was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2011 as one of the first two guitarists in Curtis’ distinguished history. She graduated Curtis in 2015, as a student of Mr. Vieaux and David Starobin, and she is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Benjamin Verdery. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and creating weird sounds on Ableton.
Photographer: Lauren Chun