STRINGS OF JOY
University of Victoria grad and JuIlliard student Chloe Kim performs works by J.S. Bach and his mentor Dieterich Buxtehude on Saturday at Christ Church Cathedral.
It was a broken ankle that pushed a young Chloe Kim to focus her energy on her violin practice, which landed her a seat at Juilliard a few years later.
Although she thinks she always knew violin was the path she’d take, Kim’s childhood was busy with figure skating, swimming and piano lessons, and she tried to give them all her full concentration.
When she broke her ankle when she was about 11, it forced her to set priorities.
“That was really a crossroads where I had to choose,” she says. “If I injured myself seriously, I wasn’t going to be able to pursue an instrument.”
The University of Victoria graduate returns to the West Coast for a performance of pieces by J.S. Bach and his mentor Dieterich Buxtehude on Saturday at Christ Church Cathedral.
The upcoming performance has been a labour of love for the 23-yearold violinist, who put together the entire show. She picked the music, selected the musicians and determined fair compensation, organized rehearsal schedules and created programs.
“Normally I just sign a contract and show up,” she says. “The project is special to me because I spearheaded it.”
Although Kim has been performing professionally since she was 17 — her first paid gig was Les Miserables in Victoria — creating her own show is a first for the musician.
It’s something she hopes to do more of in the future.
Kim flew to the Island from Paris, where she works a lot these days when she’s not in the practice rooms at the Juilliard School. She’s in her final year of a two-year master’s degree in historical performance at the prestigious performing arts conservatory in New York City. The program specializes in music composed before the 18th century.
One of Kim’s former violin teachers describes her as dedicated, focused and full of intensity. Heilwig von Koenigsloew taught Kim for several years before she moved to Victoria from the Lower Mainland to study music performance.
Koenigsloew could tell early on that Kim had the talent to play professionally.
“She is special. I’m certainly proud of what she’s accomplished,” said von Koenigsloew, who once told Kim she should choose to be a musician only if it’s something she can’t live without.
“And I totally subscribe to that,” Kim says. “I do it because it makes me feel good.”
She travels a lot for work, performing most often in San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and Paris, and sometimes has to remind herself of this choice when she’s away from home for long stretches.
“Let’s just say I never unpack my suitcase fully,” Kim says.
Kim performs with an early 19thcentury violin lent to her by von Koenigsloew. It’s the instrument she played for her Juilliard audition. She calls it her “Frankenstein instrument,” because it’s had so much work done, but says it has never let her down.
Kim graduates from Juilliard in May. She’s not sure where she’ll end up after that, but wherever she goes, it’ll be with a violin in hand.