A citizen of the world, violinist Dennis Kim was born in Korea, raised in Canada, and educated in the United States. He has spent more than a decade leading orchestras across North America, Europe, and Asia. At 22, he became concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony, later serving as the youngest concertmaster in the histories of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic, and the first foreign concertmaster of Finland’s Tampere Philharmonic. Before moving to California, he was concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster with major ensembles worldwide, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Qatar Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, and the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra.

Kim is Assistant Professor of Violin at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. This summer, he joins the faculty of the National Orchestral Academy of Canada and returns to Interlochen Center for the Arts as Valade Concertmaster with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. His former students now perform in leading orchestras including Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, Orchestre National de Lille, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, and Pacific Symphony.

In addition to serving as concertmaster of Pacific Symphony, Kim performs frequently in Hollywood studio orchestras, working with composers such as John Williams and Alan Menken. His playing is featured on film and television soundtracks including Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Toy Story 4, The Lego Movie 2, Bridgerton, and The Mandalorian.

A committed advocate for contemporary music, Kim has commissioned and premiered numerous works, including concertos by Sheridan Seyfried and John Wineglass. Recent solo engagements include appearances with the Lebanon Philharmonic and The Orchestra Now, performing repertoire from Mozart and Haydn to Glass and Penderecki.

He performs on the 1701 ex-Dushkin Stradivarius and a bow by Korean maker Yongje Song, on permanent loan from a generous donor.