ABOUT ARIANA
Noted by The New York Times for giving "the proceedings an invaluable
central thread of integrity and stylishness," GRAMMY-nominated violinist
Ariana Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall
during her doctoral studies at The Juilliard School, and is now a
tenured violin professor at Cornell University. At sixteen, she made
her debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and at twenty-four was
appointed concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans.
Equally devoted to old and new music, Ariana was an original member of
the New York contemporary music ensemble Ne(x)tworks for ten years and
is now in her 20th season with The Knights. She spent several years
with the Aizuri Quartet during their residency at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, winning the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition
Gold Medal, the Michigan Prize, and a GRAMMY Award nomination for the
album Blueprinting. Her self-released debut solo album, routes of
evanescence — featuring music by American women — was hailed by Strings
Magazine as "a spiritual journey at the core of each work," and her
recording of Steve Reich's double violin concerto Duet with Guillaume
Pirard and The Knights was chosen as one of NPR's "Songs We Love."
Recent performance highlights include the world premiere of Piyawat
Louilarpprasert's violin concerto Tweeeeeter in Bangkok, a six-performance
solo project entitled light/see + dark/hear exploring sound in complete
darkness at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a Bartók concerto at
Jordan Hall in Boston, and a recital at the Smithsonian in Washington,
D.C. Since 2022, Ariana has served as on-air host and scriptwriter for
the EMMY Award-winning PBS series This Is Minnesota Orchestra, reaching
an audience of nearly 2.5 million.
Dedicated to exploring music and improvisation across traditions, she
spent a year in South Korea studying the gayageum — a twelve-stringed
zither — and half a year in India immersed in Carnatic music and its
rich history. She plays regularly with her Ithaca-based bluegrass band
String Theory and serves as co-artistic director and principal
violinist of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and the Cacciaconti
Music Festival in Tuscany.
In between teaching, creating, and performing, Ariana can be found in
the kitchen cooking yummy things and climbing rocks — indoors and out —
with her biologist husband, Jordan Boersma.
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DISCOVER MORE OF ARIANA'S WORK
◆ PBS NEWSHOUR
American Violinist Ariana Kim Visits India to Explore Carnatic Music
A PBS NewsHour special on her work and life in India.
Watch: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/american-violinist-ariana-kim-visits-india-to-explore-carnatic-music
◆ SPOTIFY
Ariana Kim on Spotify
Explore her recordings, including her latest release.
Listen: https://open.spotify.com/artist/458mpvOI0xWU3Dkd5zPJzW
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