Ariana Kim

Photography by Shervin Lainez

Noted by The New York Times for giving “the proceedings an invaluable central thread of integrity and stylishness,” violinist Ariana Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall during her doctoral studies at Juilliard and is now a tenured professor at Cornell University.  At 16, Ariana made her debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and at 24 was appointed acting concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans; she has since become one of the most respected artists of her generation.  

As a violinist of the Aizuri Quartet, she was awarded the 2017 Osaka International Competition Grand Prize, the 2018 M-Prize, and a 2019 GRAMMY® nomination for the album Blueprinting.  During her tenure, the ensemble served as a Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and presented recitals at Suntory Hall Tokyo, the University of Toronto, the Caramoor Center, National Sawdust, Princeton University, and the Kennedy Center. 

Equally devoted to contemporary and long-established literature, Ariana was chosen for the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, held a 10-year position with the New York new music ensemble Ne(x)tworks, and is currently in her 18th season with The Knights; their 2016 recording …the ground beneath our feet… on which Ariana is a featured soloist alongside Guillaume Pirard in Steve Reich’s "Duet," was chosen as NPR’s “Songs We Love” for the year.

During a sabbatical year in South Korea, Ariana spent seven months studying the gayageum (an ancient zither-style instrument), performing throughout the country, and presenting master classes at Seoul National University. She will spend the first half of 2025 doing a similar project diving deeply into Carnatic violin traditions in Mysuru, India. This 2024-25 season will bring solo performances at the Smithsonian, a return to her hometown to serve again as the PBS live broadcast host, and the release of a new solo album exploring improvisation through Mozart, Beethoven, and world folk music. In 2019 she was appointed co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and Paesaggi Musicali Toscani in Siena, Italy.

The child of two violinist-educator parents, Ariana is a passionate pedagogue, seeking to promote the importance of music and the performing arts to young people across the globe. She teaches each year at several summer chamber music festivals including at the Crowden Music Center (Berkeley, CA), Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (Aptos, CA), the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute (Boundary Waters, MN), and spends several weeks each year serving as a resident teaching artist for middle and high schools, conservatories, universities, and youth orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In between concert tours and teaching, Ariana can be found learning how to become a fire practitioner in Northern California, climbing rocks all over the world with her new biologist husband – both indoors and out – and spending time in the kitchen cooking yummy things.