Music Director

DONGMIN KIM

Dongmin Kim is the Founder and Music Director of New York Classical Players, the chamber orchestra he established in 2010 with the conviction that artistic excellence and public access should go hand in hand. Over the past sixteen years, he has shaped NYCP’s distinctive identity through refined ensemble playing, imaginative programming, close collaboration with soloists and composers, and a sustained commitment to presenting professional concerts free of admission barriers.

During the 2026–27 season, Kim leads New York Classical Players in its seventeenth season while continuing an active guest-conducting schedule, with upcoming performances in Europe and Asia. These engagements extend a career that has brought him to orchestras and audiences across the United States and internationally.

Kim made his National Symphony Orchestra debut at the Kennedy Center and has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Arts Center Festival Orchestra, among others. His performances have taken place at venues including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and Lotte Concert Hall.

He is also a frequent returning guest at the Round Top Music Festival, where he works with the Texas Festival Orchestra and a new generation of emerging musicians.

Kim has collaborated with artists including Miriam Fried, Donald Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Cho-Liang Lin, Pamela Frank, Carter Brey, Charles Neidich, Peter Wiley, Carol Wincenc, Kun-Woo Paik, HaeSun Paik, Stefan Jackiw, Yeol Eum Son, Clara-Jumi Kang, Richard O’Neill, Jasmine Choi, and Sumi Jo.

Kim’s conducting of Copland’s “El Salon Mexico” focused on details and punctuation, and allowed solo voices the space to speak idiomatically.

— THE WASHINGTON POST —

A committed advocate for contemporary music, Kim has worked with composers including George Crumb, Samuel Adler, Jennifer Higdon, Dobrinka Tabakova, Vivian Fung, Eric Nathan, and Texu Kim. Through NYCP, he has led commissions, world premieres, new arrangements, and recording projects that place the music of living composers in dialogue with the established repertoire.

Among his recordings are chamber-orchestra works by Samuel Adler for Toccata Classics(UK); Eric Nathan’s Double Concerto No. 1 with violinist Stefan Jackiw and clarinetist Yoonah Kim, released by the Orchid Classics(UK); and a Warner Classics(Korea) recording of Korean art songs with soprano Haeran Hong.

A recipient of the Herbert von Karajan Fellowship, Kim was selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic for a residency at the Salzburg Festival. He later served on the conducting staff of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as Schmidt Conducting Fellow, working with conductors and soloists including Raymond Leppard, Mario Venzago, Lynn Harrell, André Watts, Garrick Ohlsson, and Lang Lang.

Before focusing on conducting, Kim performed professionally as a violist and held principal viola positions, including with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas. That experience continues to shape the collaborative character of his work on the podium.

Alongside his conducting career, Kim is an active writer on classical music and the performing arts, contributing reviews and essays to major media outlets in Korea. His writing explores interpretation, contemporary musical life, and the evolving relationship between artists and audiences.

A native of Seoul, Kim studied orchestral conducting and viola at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His mentors include Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, David Effron, János Starker, Alan de Veritch, Imre Palló, and Thomas Baldner.