About Me

Michelle Kim (Minseo Kim, 김민서; b. 2003) is a Korean-American composer and pianist whose work explores timbre, atmosphere, and subtle sonic transformations. Inspired by the sounds of nature and the environments around her, she creates music that invites close listening and emotional connection.

She has worked with professional ensembles including ANIMA Ensemble, CAMP (Contemporary Art Music Project), Sybarite5, and Ekmeles. Her compositions have been presented at notable venues and festivals in the US and Europe, including Piano House Opernring in Vienna, the Timucua Arts Foundation, and the Atlantic Music Festival. As a pianist, she has received awards from several competitions, including the Satori Young Pianist Contest and the Branch Theme Festival in California.

Having lived in Seoul, San Francisco, Paris, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and North Carolina, Kim draws on a wide range of cultural and environmental experiences. With these influences, her music reflects an interest in the environment, memory, and the gradual unfolding of color and emotion through sound, connecting audiences from all backgrounds through shared emotional experiences. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she studied composition with Scott Ordway and Jack Frerer and piano with Karina Bruk. She will pursue a Master of Music in Composition at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music as the recipient of the Kent Kennan Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Music Composition.