2024 Faculty

-PIANO-

Dr. Kookhee Hong

Director of programs

Connie Kim-Sheng

Dr. Evelyn Chen

Meng-Chieh Liu

Dr. Susan Boettger

Dr. Minji Noh

Youngsook Park

Dr. Stephen Pierce

-VIOLIN-

Henry Gronnier

DIREctor of strings

David Lisker

Hwi-Eun Kim, born in Daegu, Korea, began studying violin at seven years old. At 13 years old, she was accepted into The Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Joseph Silverstein and Ida Kavafian. Following her time at Curtis, she pursued her studies with Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes at The Juilliard School in New York City. Dr. Kim has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Korea; including the Korean National Festival Orchestra, Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Korea Youth Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. She also has won the concerto competition at the fullscholarship festival Music Academy of the West, and as such, performed as a soloist with Music Academy of the West Orchestra at Granada Theater in Santa Barbara. She has given solo recitals worldwide at top venues such as the Sejong Arts Center, Khumho Arts Hall, Daegu Arts Center, Auer Hall, and Field Concert Hall. Alongside her solo performances, Dr. Kim is active as a chamber musician, and has given concerts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. She has studied the discipline of chamber music with world renowned-musicians, such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Samuel Rhodes, Paul Katz, and Karen Dreyfus. Her string quartet was chosen as the American representative for the Franco-American Music Festival in Missillac, France. As an educator, Dr. Kim maintains a private teaching studio and holds the Chair of Violin position at the newly formed Fried Music, and has served as an Assistant Conductor of Elizabeth Mandell Music Institute’s Chamber Orchestra at Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. She regularly performs with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and has earned a Doctorate in Musical Arts in violin performance, with minors in instrumental conducting, music theory, and jazz from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, while studying under the guidance of Glenn Dicterow.

Dr. Hwi-Eun Kim

director of chamber music