2024 Guest Artists

• Wonkak Kim

  Korean-born clarinetist Wonkak Kim has captivated audiences around the world with his “excellent breath control”(The Washington Post) and “exuberant musicianship” (Fanfare). Kim appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at major venues throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.A Naxos Recording Artist, he has garnered international acclaim with his extensive discography: Gulfstream, a collection of new American chamber music, received many distinctions, including“Music US Choice” (BBC Music Magazine), “Recording of the Month” (MusicWeb International), and American Record Guide Critic’s Choice, and was praised for its “very highest quality” (Gramophone, UK). The International Clarinet Association Journal lauded Kim’s “sensitive playing, a lovely sound and consummate facility” in François Devienne: Clarinet Sonatas. On his most recent Naxos release of Stephen Krehl’s Clarinet Quintet, American Record Guide wrote: “Kim renders the Clarinet Quintet with a clear and nicely rounded timbre…with seamless blend and excellent legato.” Kim’s live and recorded performances have been featured on Radio France, BBC Radio 3, Swedish Radio, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CJPX Radio Classique Québec, Hong Kong RTHK-HK, Korean Broadcasting System, and NPR stations around the US. Kim is Associate Professor of Clarinet at the University of Oregon and a performing artist/clinician for Buffet Crampon, Silverstein, and Vandoren. He is regularly invited as a guest artist and teacher at world’s renowned institutions, including the Juilliard, Yale, and Manhattan School of Music. To learn more about Wonkak Kim, please visit his website: www.wonkakkim.com.

• Eunhye Grace Choi
  Korean pianist Eunhye Grace Choi is an active pianist and chamber musician and is currently Artistic Director of Chamber Music Amici (Eugene, OR). She has performed extensively throughout the United States, France, Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea, and has recorded for Naxos, Emeritus, and Origin Classical. Her performances have also been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today. A versatile keyboardist, she was harpsichord soloist for J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto cycle and collaborated with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. As a collaborative pianist in great demand, Choi regularly performs with musicians from the major symphony orchestras, including Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Paul, Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphony as well as many of the world’s most prestigious music schools and conservatories.

  Choi is frequently invited as a resident pianist at competitions and conventions, including the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium. Choi served as Collaborative Piano Faculty for six years at Eastern Music Festival, where she was the principal keyboardist of the Festival Orchestra with conductor Gerard Schwarz. She has also served as music faculty and collaborative pianist at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, The University of Oregon (2017-2018) and Tennessee Tech University (2013-2017). Here in Oregon, in addition to Amici, Grace performs regularly with the Eugene Symphony, Microphilharmonic, and Oregon Bach Festival. Choi holds degrees from the University of Minnesota (D.M.A.), Florida State University (M.M.), and Yonsei University (B.M. Composition).

• Texu Kim
  Texu Kim writes music inspired by everyday experiences, music about modern Korea, reflecting its multicultural nature, and music that is humorous yet sophisticated. His music also incorporates and expands Korean folk music elements and systems.

  An impressive roster of ensembles has programmed Kim’s music, including the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Oakland Symphony, New World Symphony, National Orchestra of Korea, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Alarm Will Sound, and Sejong Soloists. In 2014-16, he served as the Composer-in-Residence of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, and he launched its Composers’ Atelier program that commissions, mentors, and performs other Korean composers’ orchestral works.

  An associate professor and one of the 2023-24 Presidential Research Fellows at San Diego State University, Kim has received awards and honors from the Fromm Music Foundation, the Barlow Prize, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Copland House, SCI/ASCAP, American Modern Ensemble, Ilshin Composition Prize, and Isang Yun International Composition Prize, in addition to winning a Silver Medal in the 1998 International Chemistry Olympiad.