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David Kim

Violinist

Violinist David Kim was named Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999. Born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1963, he started playing the violin at the age of three, began studies with the famed pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the age of eight, and later received his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Juilliard School. In 1986 he was the only American violinist to win a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In January 2013, he led The Philadelphia Orchestra in a week of all-Mozart programs without conductor.

Mr. Kim was founder and, for 20 years ending in 2008, artistic director of the Kingston Chamber Music Festival at the University of Rhode Island, from which he was also awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts in 2001. He also serves as Artist in Residence at Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia and in May 2011, was conferred the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa.