Eugene Kim

Cellist Eugene Kim (she/her) joined the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in the 2024/25 season. Originally from Incheon, South Korea, she made her solo debut at age 12 with the Youth Orchestra of the Educational and Cultural Art Center. Early recognition came through a performance with Maestro Nanse Gum on the audition-based televised program Kids Classic Audition, produced by KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and sponsored by KT (Korea Telecom). She was also selected for the country’s only chamber music program co-organized by LG and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Kim received her early training at Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School, two of South Korea’s most prestigious arts institutions, where she was honored with an Award for Excellence. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the New England Conservatory, studying with Lluis Claret, and completed her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in May 2024 under the tutelage of Timothy Eddy and Natasha Brofsky.

As an orchestral musician, Kim has appeared at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra Seminar and once served as principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. In 2023, she was associate principal for the opening concert of the 30th anniversary season of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, under the baton of the legendary Maestro Zubin Mehta and alongside the internationally acclaimed pianist Yuja Wang. During the 2023-24 season, she worked with many esteemed conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Charles Dutoit, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniele Gatti, Lahav Shani, Plácido Domingo, and Christoph Eschenbach, and collaborated with artists such as Yunchan Lim, Wynton Marsalis, and Bryn Terfel. In the upcoming 2025 season, she is set to perform with Barbara Hannigan, Gautier Capuçon, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, and Khatia Buniatishvili. Through an internal audition, she has been selected to join the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO), a distinguished ensemble of select festival alumni, with future performances to be scheduled.

Ms. Kim’s recent festival engagements include serving as principal cellist at the Spoleto Festival USA and performing with the Britt Festival Orchestra in 2024. In 2021, she gave her first full-length recital at the Kumho Art Hall as part of the Kumho Young Artist Concert Series. She has received prizes in national competitions in Korea including The Strad Competition and the Ewha & Kyunghyang Concours.