Do-Hyun Kim, piano

I loved music since my childhood, maybe even without noticing that. When I would learn songs in the kindergarten, I would enjoy singing them and trying to play them on piano at home. I could even whistle very well at that time. My parents had been sincere Christian, and they wanted me to learn music so I could serve for God. At the age of 7, I was sent to a small piano afterschool academy. However, I did not enjoy learning piano at all. The first instrument I fell in love was snare drum. I was assigned to play a snare drum in the school orchestra, and I enjoyed it a lot. I could never imagine myself being a pianist – I could never understand how piano players move their fingers so delicately. Anyways I kept learning piano, of course, not professionally. I have two younger brothers. We grew up listening to some audio CDs from a CD player. We would dance along with the English children-songs, or Vladimir Ashkenazy’s complete Chopin Waltzes, which was one of the birthday gifts from my dad. As being a 10-year-old boy, I fell in love with his recordings. I even had to turn the CD player’s volume to max and put it in front of the opened-window, so neighbors could hear that beautiful music. In my 6th grade, all day long I sang along the songs from the movie Sound of Music, and Merry Poppins. Our family spent time together a lot, especially in a car. One of my favorite things was to listen to my new MP3 player in the car. I listened to a lot of classical music. Most of them were Chopin, some Rachmaninov concertos, and some Liszt’s music. Each time I was so into them, and often cried in tears. Some of the days, suddenly, I wished to play them with my own hands, and tried to learn Chopin etudes. In my 8th grade, I told my mom that I wanted to become a serious musician.

So far, I had four private piano teachers: Jeong Eun Byun, Hee Sung Joo, Hae Sun Paik, and Sergei Babayan. If I would talk about the most precious thing in my musical life, it would be my teachers. I have been a very blessed boy. My teachers all treated me always with full of love. I would say, until I came to the United States in 2013, I did not really find the reason why I had to spend 8 or 9 hours in the practice room every day; my dream to be a pianist seemed vague usually. I struggled a lot by myself since my college years. I strived to find ways to make better music. It was not the case when teacher would tell me how to. They would give me directions with images, words, and demonstrations. But it took many years for me to digest them and express them with confidence. Especially when I first started studying with Mr. Babayan, I thought I was learning piano as a very beginner. He introduced me the whole new approach in piano playing – which came from the school of Heinrich Neuhaus – and I started to be fascinated by that. I remember I was struggling very much Beethoven’s piano sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110, and Chopin’s 4th ballade, while adapting to this new concept of piano playing. The joy I gained from making a single phrase work, was huge. I started to realize how much effort and care the greatest artists like Horowitz and Richter put on their music, and I was excited and fascinated dreaming of being such artists whom people will remember my sound in the future. To me, music was something very special to devote for my whole lifetime. I usually spend the whole day with music, and I experience lots of different emotions… love, despair, hope, happiness, fragility, tears… like human relationships, we have good days and bad days. There is no answer in music, and that’s why I play music. God gave us music and I want to show him what I can do with sound, so he will be happy.

When I graduated from bachelor’s degree at Cleveland Institute of Music, I luckily got a chance to participate in Vendome Prize competition in Verbier, Switzerland. It was my first experience standing in front of the real public and playing for them. I was very nervous that I could not even fall asleep the night before. But I felt that God was with me. Audience cheered me with such a big noise and applause. I became extremely excited that I could make people so happy with my music. In the same year, I won the Young Concert Artist Audition in NY. I got to play in some concerts and felt I was very blessed to be able to play music. I think the most important thing for me being musician is that I can laugh and cry with music, and I can share my own personal stories through music with a lot of people and God. I wish to learn more and keep growing as better musician and human being.