Hyelim Kim
Composer and daegeum (Korean flute) soloist, Dr Hyelim Kim has been using pioneering intercultural/interdisciplinary approaches through rooted in Korean traditional music.
As a daegeum virtuoso, Kim was selected as an ‘emerging artist’ by the Korean Arts Council and as the Kumho Young Artist, has been invited to perform a live session with Nils Frahm on BBC Radio 3’s celebrated Late Junction, and was the soloist on the world premier of a daegeum concertino performed with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, to name a few. She has also won prizes at various acclaimed competitions, including the Gold Medal at the Korean National Taegŭm Competition and the 1st prize at the Korean National Chongro Music Competition. Kim has performed at various prestigious festivals worldwide, including the London Jazz Festival, Melbourne Women’s Festival (Melbourne), China International Bamboo Flute Festival (Yuping), the World Classics (England), the Shubbak Festival (London), and the Creativity Unlimited Festival (Sydney). Kim is a regular member of the Third Orchestra (Barbican Centre). Based on her belief that Korean heritage can act as an artistic inspiration for the contemporary and cosmopolitan environment of the UK, Kim has set up and leads the Korean traditional music and dance group, the Shilla Ensemble.
Kim has extended her musical practice to the interdisciplinary sphere. ‘Korean Music with Nature’ is a series of videos she directed and performed in with support from the Korean Ministry of Culture, and PRS Foundation (UK) funded her ‘Dansang’ short films, which won the Best Music Award at the Experimental, Dance & Music Film Festival (Los Angeles) in 2021. Some of Kim’s projects have been documented in her monograph ‘Tradition and Creativity in Korean Taegŭm Flute Performance’ published by Routledge in 2021.
In 2023 she received the Paul Hamlyn Award for composers in London, UK.
Daegeum
The daegeum (or tageum) is a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre, It is mainly used in court, aristocratic, and folk music, as well as in contemporary classical music, popular music, and film scores.