Jonah Kim is an artist of rare charisma and originality, distinguished by a tone of signature sweetness. He draws listeners in with “the cozy warmth of a well-loved cashmere sweater” (Gramophone) and “dives into the music with courage underpinned by formidable technical prowess” (All About the Arts).

Kim made his solo debut with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12 and has since captivated audiences worldwide. His recording of the Kodály Solo Sonata has been praised for “[capturing] the very elusiveness that gives the music its substance” (Gramophone) and “flawless delivery of its Herculean technical demands… exhilarating” (The Strad).

Named artistic director of Festival San Miguel de Allende in 2023, Kim is celebrated for inventive programming guided by beauty, likened to “the masques of Henry Purcell or the Gesamtkunstwerk operas of Richard Wagner” (San Luis Obispo Review).

He has served as artist-in-residence at St. Ignatius Parish, the Fromme Institute, Ken Fulk’s Saint Joseph’s Art Society, and Festival Mozaic, where he also appears on Scott Yoo’s PBS docu-series Now Hear This.

In 2023, as cellist of Trio Barclay®, he performed at The Kennedy Center for Our America: Defining Courage, aired nationally on ABC and now streaming on Hulu.

Born in Seoul, Kim taught himself cello by watching Pablo Casals on VHS. Awarded a full scholarship to Juilliard at seven, he became pen pals with Janos Starker and later studied with him at Curtis Institute, where he trained with Orlando Cole, David Soyer, Peter Wiley, and Lynn Harrell. Kim synthesizes Italian, German, Russian, Franco-Spanish, and Hungarian lineages into a distinctly American cello school.

He lives in San Francisco with his wife, ballerina Julia Rowe.

- Copyright Outhere Music Group