Yoonah Kim, clarinet

Hailed by The New York Times for her "inexhaustible virtuosity", clarinetist Yoonah Kim is an artist of uncommon musical depth and versatility. She enjoys a diverse career as solo clarinetist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator.

Yoonah launched her career when she won the 2016 Concert Artists Guild International Competition – the first solo clarinetist to win CAG in nearly 30 years, she joined the ranks of prominent solo clarinetists discovered by CAG, including David Shifrin, Michael Collins, and David Krakauer. Yoonah is also the first woman to win first prize at the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition and she is a first prize winner of the George Gershwin International Competition and the Vienna International Competition.

Yoonah has given recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, Washington Performing Arts’ Music in the Country series, Chamber Music Society of Little Rock and Union County Performing Arts Center. She has also appeared as concerto soloist with the Maui Chamber Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Chesapeake Youth Symphony.

Beyond her performing solo clarinet repertoire in recitals and with orchestras, Yoonah is devoted to commissioning and premiering new works for the clarinet. She has commissioned and premiered new works including Eric Nathan’s Double Concerto for Violin and Clarinet (premiered alongside her husband violinist Stefan Jackiw), Texu Kim’s reimagining of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for solo clarinet and string orchestra, and Andrew Hsu’s Erebus for clarinet and piano and Three Pieces for solo clarinet.

Yoonah regularly performs as guest principal clarinet at Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, and Princeton Symphony, and has also appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Binghamton Philharmonic.

From 2016 to 2018, Yoonah was a member of Ensemble Connect, a highly selective two-year fellowship program under the joint auspices of Carnegie Hall, The Weill Institute, and The Juilliard School. With Ensemble Connect, she performed regularly at Carnegie Hall, often in collaboration with renowned conductors and guest artists. Highlights include performances with Sir Simon Rattle at Zankel Hall, and with soprano Natalie Dessay at the Philharmonie de Paris.

As a sought-after chamber musician, Yoonah tours regularly with the ensembles Founders and Frisson, and has appeared at numerous international chamber music festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, Moab Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, Maui Classical Music Festival, Honolulu’s Hawaii Chamber Music Festival, California’s Festival Napa Valley, Maine’s Bay Chamber Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Sarasota Music Festival, The Banff Centre Music Festival, Thessaloniki Festival in Greece, and the GumNanse Music Center festival in Busan, Korea.

In addition to her thriving performance career, Yoonah is dedicated to teaching. Yoonah is the co-founder of Chime for Children, an initiative aimed at bringing joy and inspiration through interactive performances to children with limited exposure and access to music.

Born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in Langley, British Columbia, Yoonah now calls New York her home. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at The Juilliard School as the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow.