SENIOR DIVISION FINALIST
CELLO, 14
Pytor Tchaikovsky
Variation on a Rococo Theme
Kristen Kim is a 14-year-old cellist in Portland, Oregon. She started playing cello at the age of six, and is currently studying with cellist Hyun-Jin Kim.
Kristen was the winner in the 2021 Oregon MTNA Junior String Competition, and alternate winner in the Northwest MTNA Junior Performance String Competition. Along with this, she also won 1st place in the 2022 Oregon Mozart Player Young Artist Competition Junior Division. She was chosen as a winner of 2022 Cognizart Metro Art Young Artist Competition, 1st place in the 2021 American Protégé international string competition, 1st place in Rising Star of the 2020 Canadian International Music Competition, 1st place in 2022 Best Bach Competition, and 2nd place in the Oregon ASTA competition. In 2023, she won 2nd place in the young artist competition of Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and was chosen as a winner of the Oregon Sinfonietta Competition. Through these competitions, Kristen was given the opportunity to solo with professional musicians such as the Oregon Mozart Players, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, the Oregon Sinfonietta, and members of the Oregon Symphony.
As Kristen enjoys playing with other musicians and peers, she is a part of the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and a PYP Sextet. She also plays in the Camerata PYP chamber orchestra and volunteers for a community music education organization, Project Prelude. Outside of her musical life, she loves volunteering for her church and at nursing homes.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
If I could have any superpower, it would be teleportation because I love traveling.
What is one cool feature you would like to have in your dream house?
A cool feature I would like to have in my dream house would be an elevator so I wouldn’t have to walk up the stairs.
What is your spirit animal? My spirit animal is a sloth.
If you could travel back in time, what year would you most like to visit?
I would like to visit 1990 because it would be cool to see what my parents were like at my age.
If you could have an extra hour of free time every day, how would you use it? If I could have an extra hour of free time every day, I would sleep.