Junior division finalist
Piano, 13

Franz Joseph Haydn
*Piano Concerto No. 11 in D Major Mvt. 1*

Grace Kim is a 13-year-old pianist from Eugene, Oregon, and an 8th grader at Ridgeline Montessori. She has been learning piano for almost five years from her mother and teacher, Suyeon Hwang. Grace received the Consul General Award for Group D in the Chopin Avenue International Piano Competition 2021 after just one year of learning piano. She earned Honorable Mention in the 2021 Sonatina Festival, Level 8, at the age of 10. She also won the Silver Prize in the London Young Musician 2022-2023 and took 2nd place in the South Korean Well Concert Music Competition 2023 for Category Age 11-12.

Grace loves sharing her gift of music with others by performing at seven different assisted living and retirement communities in Eugene. When she isn’t practicing piano, Grace enjoys swimming, watching silly shows like Gravity Falls, telling scary stories with her friends, and playing with her cats, Cookie and Hoduk.

If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be? M＆M ice cream cookies, of course!

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Communicating with animals, so I could talk to my cats.

What famous person would you most like to have dinner with? Malala Yousafzai, because she is an inspirational and fearless woman who is an example of how we should all be.

Who is your favorite musician? Yunchan Lim. His playing is indescribable, with astounding clarity and a remarkable dynamic range.