‘Soojin is a wonderful violinist with extraordinary subtlety and great expressiveness…and remarkable instrumental mastery’ - Gidon Kremer
 

Born in Korea, Soojin moved to the UK with her parents when she was two. She began the violin at the age of eight and entered the Yehudi Menuhin School before transferring to the Purcell School under Felix Andrievsky’s tutelage. After graduating, she took lessons with Zakhar Bron and mentor Kyung-Wha Chung. She studied at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music in London and is also an alumni of Kronberg Academy (Further Masters) where she worked with Ana Chumachenco.
 
 Soojin has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the London Symphony, Poznan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, Zhejiang Symphony, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, L'Ensemble Ricercata de Paris, with conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, James Judd, Myung Whun Chung, Peter Stark and Marko Letonja, and has given concerts throughout the UK, Europe and the Far East in venues including nearly all of the major London concert halls, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Warsaw Radio Hall, Suntory Hall, Operacity and Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo, Osaka Symphony Hall, Hangzhou Grand Theatre, Sejong Arts Centre and Seoul Arts Centre. Her performances have been broadcast live on Polish, Dutch, Korean and US Radio.
 
 Soojin won 2nd prize as the youngest competitor and the youngest ever top prize winner at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition 2001 in Poznan, Poland where she was also awarded 7 other special prizes including the Critics and Journalists Prize and the Polish Radio Listener’s Award. She also won first prize at the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition 2002 and the Bayreuth International Competition 2006. Other awards include the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s Manoug Parikian Prize 2001, Royal Philharmonic Society's Emily Anderson Award 2002, Martin Music Scholarships, Hattori Foundation Scholarships, an Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Countess of Munster award. Her love of chamber music has taken her on several occasions to participate in Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove, Cornwall since 2003. She also performed various chamber works with Andras Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Frans Helmerson at ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’.
 
 Apart from her life as a performer, she is also a cultural representative for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is on the Board of Advisors for Cultural Exchange (as sole representative for Classical Music), also on the Board of Advisors for the Preparatory Committee of the Pacific Islands Summit to be held at the end of this month. She is also First Associate Director of the Busan International Classical Music Festival and Ambassador for the Charity Love Violin.
 
 Soojin plays on a 1666 Antonio Stradivarius kindly provided by an anonymous benefactor.

 
 

 

Adriel Kim is currently artistic director of Orchestra the Original that has quickly become an essential part of the musical identity of Seoul, Korea. Passionately committed to hybrid programing from Viennese classic to contemporary repertoire of innovative conception, he developed the orchestra into an upcoming distinguished orchestra, hailed by the major press.

 

 After his success winning a third prize at the 4th Jorma Panula International Conducting Competition in 2009, he was appointed assistant conductor to Christoph Poppen at Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saabrücken Kaiserslautern by the following year. His strong musical links to Korea also led him to serve as principal conductor of Ditto Orchestra from 2012 to 2017. Adriel Kim has collaborated with notable soloists including Mischa Maisky, Sumi Jo, Gautier Capuçon, Sergei Nakariakov,Barbara Hendricks among others. He has worked previously with orchestras such as Tampere Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saabrücken Kaiserslautern, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, Vaasa City Orchestra, Kurpfälzischer Kammerorchester, KBS Symphony Orchestra,Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra,Korea Symphony Orchestra,Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Changwon Philharmonic, TIMF Orchestra, Gangnam Symphony Orchestra, Gwacheon Symphony Orchestra,Gyeongbuk Philharmonic Orchestra Adriel Kim is also prolific in opera appearing at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn (La finta Giardiniera) and Teatro Caio Melisso(Il barbiere di Siviglia). Prior to that, he had already gained attention as a finalist in the 14th Competition for Opera Conductors of the European Union in Spoleto. In addition, he was musical assistant to Karel Mark Chichon for the production of Verdi's at the Bayerische Staatsoper.  Prior to his international career, he double majored in conducting (Leopold Hager, Mark Stringer) and violin(Dora Schwarzberg, Rainer Küchl)  at the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna, receiving master's degrees in both. As a violinist, he won the first prize at Pietra Ligure international violin Competition in 2000.