Julius-JeongWon Kim
Pianist, Former Professor of KyungHee Uni.
“A performance overflowing with warm sensitivity, fantasy, and imagination that captivates the audience from beginning to end.”
— Murray Perahia
“A pianist who performs with logical interpretation while never losing the essence and flavor of the music.”
— Paul Badura-Skoda
Recognized as one of Korea’s leading pianists of his generation, possessing warm sensitivity, intellectual interpretation, and overwhelming artistry, Kim Jung Won has been loved by audiences since giving his first recital at the age of eleven and has continued an active international career as a world-class performer.
He has collaborated with renowned conductors including Dennis Russell Davies, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Tomáš Netopil, Michael Francis, Maxim Shostakovich, and Myung-whun Chung. He has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Russian State Capella, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, and Korean Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with internationally acclaimed chamber ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet and the Janáček String Quartet.
Beginning in 2007, Kim Jung Won successfully presented several nationwide recital tours across Korea, performing in fifteen cities, and in 2011 completed a seven-city recital tour in Japan. In addition to giving the Asian premiere of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 5 (Alexander Warenberg’s arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2), he has appeared at many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
His complete performance cycle of Franz Schubert’s piano sonatas, launched in 2014, received overwhelming critical acclaim. The six Schubert sonata albums released by Deutsche Grammophon documenting this artistic journey were praised as “an important chapter in piano history.” He has also appeared as a soloist at many of Europe’s distinguished music festivals, including the Chopin and His Europe Festival, Easter Beethoven Festival, Verbier Festival, Český Krumlov International Music Festival, and PianoEchos Festival.
Former Czech President Václav Klaus personally presented Kim Jung Won with a special award of appreciation for his performances, while former U.S. President George W. Bush praised his playing as “the most moving performance.” In 2018, during President Moon Jae-in’s official visit to Russia for the FIFA World Cup, Kim was invited to perform before the leaders of Korea and Russia.
Alongside his concert career, Kim Jung Won has built an extensive discography. His recordings include Chopin 4 Scherzos, Fantasy and Barcarolle, Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 2 & Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, EMI releases of Chopin 24 Études, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos, and Mozart Piano Concertos K.466 & K.467, among more than ten albums. His releases on Deutsche Grammophon include Schubert 6 Piano Sonatas and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 5 (arr. by Alexander Warenberg), as well as numerous chamber music recordings. In 2023, he released an album devoted to the late works of Frédéric Chopin through the historic Polish label DUX Recording Producers. Shortly after its release, the album reached No. 1 on several Korean classical music charts and was featured by major global streaming platforms such as Spotify, generating considerable international attention.
Kim Jung Won began studying piano at the age of five. He entered the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as its youngest-ever student and graduated with highest honors by unanimous decision. He later completed the advanced artist diploma program at the Conservatoire de Paris, studying with Michael Krist and Jacques Rouvier.
From 2009 to 2017, he served as Professor at Kyung Hee University. Today, alongside his active performing career, he continues to mentor younger generations through masterclasses and educational projects. He is also the host of the CBS classical radio program Kim Jung Won’s Beautiful You, demonstrating not only his scholarly and artistic depth, but also his commitment to communicating classical music to the wider public as one of Korea’s foremost classical musicians.
