Faculty Recital: Soovin Kim, Violin + Ieva Jokubaviciute

Artist(s)

Soovin Kim enjoys a broad musical career as a performer, educator, and program curator. He has performed with many of the major orchestras in the United States and abroad, and presented recitals on the world’s most celebrated stages. His repertoire ranges from Bach sonatas and Paganini caprices for solo violin to Beethoven and Ives sonatas for violin and piano, as well as world-premieres of new works almost every season.  When he was 20 years old Mr. Kim received first prize at the Paganini International Violin Competition.  Among his many commercial recordings are his “thrillingly triumphant” (Classic FM Magazine) disc of Paganini’s 24 Caprices.
     Soovin Kim is the founder and artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival (LCCMF) in Burlington, Vermont.  In addition to its explorative programming and extensive work with living composers, LCCMF created the ONE Strings program through which all 3rd through 5th grade students of the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington study violin.  The University of Vermont recognized Soovin Kim’s work with an honorary doctorate.  In 2020 he and his wife, pianist Gloria Chien, became artistic directors of the summer festival and year-round concert series Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon.  The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center awarded Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim the Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music in 2021 for the more than 100 performances, lectures, interviews, and masterclasses they presented for online audiences around the world during the COVID pandemic. 
     Mr. Kim immersed himself in the string quartet literature for 20 years as the 1st violinist of the Johannes Quartet, and now performs piano trios with Gloria Chien and cellist Paul Watkins in the Chien-Kim-Watkins Trio.  Mr. Kim is a full-time violin faculty member at NEC and also teaches at the Yale School of Music. 

Lithuanian pianist and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship recipient, Ieva Jokubaviciute made her orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and has since performed concerti with orchestras in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Washington, DC; and Fargo, ND.  Her latest recording, Northscapes, features piano works by twenty-first century composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe was released in 2021 by Sono Luminus.  
     A much sought-after chamber musician and collaborator, Ms. Jokubaviciute's chamber music endeavors have brought her to major stages throughout North America and extensive touring in Europe, Japan, India, and South America.  Most recently she performed at international music festivals, including Marlboro, Ravinia, Chamber Music Northwest, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Festival Mozaic and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival at East Carolina University. She was a founding member of the Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition Winner Trio Cavatina.  
     Earning degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and from Mannes College of Music in New York City, her principal mentors have been Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode.