Born in 2003 in South Korea, Doomin Kim started to play the piano at the age of seven and soon got a great passion for music. Initially willing to become a composer, he decided, however, at the age of ten, to study seriously piano which gave him a great joy while playing and moved to Italy to study in Imola under Marlies Van Gent at the age of twelve.

A year later, in 2016, after being inspired by the musicianship of Michael Wladkowski, Doomin Kim decided to move to Paris and became his pupil from 2016 to 2024 at the prestigious École Normale de Musique de Paris. He obtained the Superior Diploma of Chamber music in 2019 with professor Chantal De Buchy and in 2022, the Artist Diploma with professor Michael Wladkowski. In 2019, his first solo album ‘Mendelssohn:Piano works’ was released by Warner Classics, which he recorded in 2017, in 38 countries.

The album is reviewed by major music platforms such as Gramophone, France Musique, and also rewarded by Apple Music as ’10 classical albums of the month’. And in the same year, he participated to the ‘Beethoven Complete Works 250th Anniversary Edition‘ by Warner Classics with following recordings: ‘Rare piano solo works’ and ‘Complete 4 hands works’ Doomin Kim had masterclass with numerous world-class musicians such as Peter Lang, Peter Ovtcharov, Anne Queffélec, Ronan O’Hora, Konstantin Semilakovs, Pascal Rogé, Fraçoise Thinat, Phillipe Bianconi, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, Kevin Kenner, Michal Tal and Aquiles Delle Vigne.

Besides perfectioning his pianistic abilities, Doomin Kim is also an amateur composer and improviser and has a great interest to conducting and the organ.

Listen to Doomin’s classicals at Idagio.

1. When and how did you realize that your whole life would be linked to music?

When I was 8 years old, after listening to a recital of the great Korean pianist, Kun Woo Paik, I was shocked by the fact that a single person on stage can communicate the beauty of music to two thousand or three thousand people. I understood what it means to be a musician. This experience overwhelmed me and it is still my goal when I play on stage; to transmit to the audiences a living musical experience. I wanted to be a composer first and foremost and I still want to be. It happened to me that I am a pianist now, thanks to my great passion for the piano, I never give up creativity in music, whether it is composition, improvisation or interpretation of a work in a spontaneous way.

2. Which composer has most influenced your musical imagination?

Beethoven, if I have to say just one composer among others. He is a very special and unique composer because his music does not only express emotion, or has only a beautiful melody, but offers us a transcendent experience; it is an expression sometimes so profound that one is crushed by the greatness and magnanimity of his thought, and sometimes very human, weak and sensitive but heroic. I hope, one day, that I will have the opportunity to play his music for you.

3. What is your main creative motto?

“We must seek not perfection, for that belongs only to God, but truth.” A phrase that my teacher, Michael Wladkowski, inherited from his teacher. I particularly resonate with this phrase because perfect music is not equal to true music, or sincere if I personalize it; we will not listen to the music piece generated by an AI instead of that one will always choose real music created by a great musician. A music must, ideally, remain in the memory of the listener, enrich his sensitivity and offer consolation to a wounded heart. And the only way to achieve this goal is to transmit sincerity to the listener through music.

4. What would you like to express during your performance at the festival? What will your program consist of and why this choice?

I want classical music not to be conceived as boring, complicated or not updated. I want it to be alive and dynamic and pleasant to listen to even for those who are not used to it. There are, in my program, works by composers like Debussy, Satie, Roussel, Scriabin, Szymanowski for the demonstration of modernity that mixes with a classical musical language, then works by composers like Bénéteau, Dedieu who are friends of mine who continue to make classical music live in our days, then a work of my own which, right now in January 2025, is not yet finished, so you will listen to its world premiere.

5. What goals do you set for yourself, what projects do you have on the horizon?

My main goal is always to have good opportunities to play on stage in order to play music for my whole life without having any worries. For this purpose, I organize my own series of concerts in Budapest where I currently reside, I participate in various international competitions. As long as I can play music, I am satisfied for my life!

6. How do you see the future of piano music?

The piano, since its invention at the very beginning of the 18th century, has always been one of the most beloved instruments, and I dare say that this will not change.

However, the innovation of the instrument practically stopped at the end of the 19th century. I believe that pianists can work with the engineer of the instrument to invent new sounds, dare to experiment, not in the style of the end of the 20th century, but in a direction that allows more freedom to the creativity of composers and performers. Like the organ, for example, that you can completely change the sound in a different instrument.

7. What does Paris represent for you, do you have a special relationship with this city and why did you accept the invitation to participate in the festival?

I have lived almost a half of my life in Paris, a city that is very dear to me. Besides this personal feeling, Paris is a city full of interesting cultural events, including our festival which is like a link between the culture of the past and today. It is also what touches me the most in Paris; the past is not buried in Paris, but it continues to live with its inhabitants today and especially as a Catholic, I am also very happy to see a very old and at the same time dynamic Catholic culture of Paris and France in general.

Discover Piano Revenge Festival and Doomin Kim’s Music