Grayson College Presents Duo Amitiè Recital
The Grayson College Music Program presents: Duo Amitiè, a faculty piano recital. Featured performers include Grayson College music professor, Dr. Min Kyung Kim, and Jieun Lee. The recital will take place in Cruce Stark Auditorium on November 11th at 7:30pm.
Dr. Min Kyung Kim is an active performer and pedagogue in Texas. She serves as Adjunct Professor of Piano at Grayson College and recently earned a doctoral degree in Piano Performance and Music & Medicine under Joseph Banowetz and Dr. Kris Chesky at the University of North Texas. She completed her bachelor degree in Piano Performance at the Myongji University in South Korea and Master’s degree in Piano Performance with Joseph Banowetz at University of North Texas. As a pianist, she was awarded as a first-prize winner at the 2018 Golden Classical Music Awards International Music Competition and first prize winner at the 2019 IMC International Piano and String Competition. She performed in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2018 and 2019. Dr. Kim and her colleague, Jake Moon, premiered and recorded a Complete Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Volume two of Dmitry Shostakovich for Toccata Classics in London in 2016. Praised by critics as “skillful reading and energized performances… clean articulation … they’re terrific together”, they were described as being “powerful advocates of the music and clearly had a ball…” by MusicWeb International. She is a Toccata Classics Artist.
Dr. Kim has also appeared in performances in the International Keyboard Institute & Festival in New York, United States International Duo Piano Competition in Colorado, and the 250th Anniversary of Mozart in Korea and numerous solo recitals and chamber recitals. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes in Korea and the United States including those held by Music Education News Competition, the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, the Ye Won University Competition, Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. She was recognized as an outstanding student in piano performance while at Myongji University and received the outstanding student scholarships. Throughout her master and doctoral studies, she has been the recipient of the James T. Rhea Scholarship, College of Music/USC Scholarship, Academic Achievement Scholarships and the Raupe Grant. Ms. Kim’s fascination with performing health issues has led her to explore relationships between musicians and their health problems. As a researcher, she was a former student researcher at the Texas Center for Performing Arts Health with Dr. Chesky. She presented a paper on memorizing problems and performance anxiety among pianists at the 2014 Performing Arts Medicine Association in Aspen, Colorado and the 2016 Federation of North Texas Area Universities.
Jieun Lee is originally from Seoul, South Korea, where she started her piano studies at the Sunhwa Arts Middle and High School and made her orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Gangdong Symphony Orchestra. When she received her bachelor's degree from the Chugye University for the Arts, she received the honor scholarship for outstanding academic performance.
After moving to the United States in 2013, she has won first prize at the Isabel Scionti Competition, Rose Petroff Foundation Piano Competition, and Golden Classical International Music Competition. She also won second prize at the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Competition and Granados Special Mention at the IBLA International Competition. She was awarded the Dean's Camerata Scholarship, Academic Achievement Scholarship, and Friends of Symphony Scholarship from the University of North Texas and was chosen as a recipient of the Korean American Scholarship Foundation, which is a national organization to support Korean-American students seeking higher education.
She actively participated in international music festivals such as the International Piano Festival at Houston, International Keyboard Institute and Festival at New York, and PianoTexas International Piano Festival at Fort Worth. Jieun has also performed in master classes with Jerome Rose, Victor Rosenbaum, Sean Chen, Tamás Ungár, Andrey Ponochevny, Billy Eidi, Herve Billaut, Massimo Somenzi and the Baumer String Quartet. Her performance venues include Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Moody Performance Hall, Dallas Public Library, Theatro ‘Falcone-Borsellino’, Chiesa di San Vincenzo Ferreri, and Palazzo Ottaviano Brino, Italy.
Ms. Lee has a love for collaborating with other players and performing in a large ensemble. She worked with many vocalists and instrumentalists as a member of the North Texas Collaborative Pianists and served as a principal keyboard player in the UNT Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Band.
Currently, Ms. Lee is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance under the guidance of Professor Gustavo Romero at the University of North Texas, where she holds her Master’s degree in 2015. She teaches at Prince of Peace Christian School and serves as a choir pianist at Martin United Methodist Church and the University of Dallas.