Soovin Kim To Perform Bach's Complete Sonatas & Partitas For Solo Violin Over Two Concerts In April

Chamber Music Northwest will present the organization's Artistic Director Soovin Kim who will perform the Mount Everest for a violinist: Bach's complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, over two concert evenings.

The pair of concerts—each presenting different selections of Bach's Partitas and Sonatas—will take place on Thursday, April 3 and Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 pm at The Old Church Concert Hall.

When the world shut down in 2020, one of the first musicians in the nation to step onto a stage to share desperately needed music with the world was our own artistic director, acclaimed violinist Kim. CMNW streamed his monumental performance of Bach's complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin from Massachusetts's majestic Jordan Hall for thousands of home-bound viewers. Watch excerpts from that concert on our YouTube channel HERE.

Kim also performed this program in January of this year at the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, in Burlington, Vermont. Read an in-depth interview with Kim by Jim Lowe for the Times-Argus HERE

From CMNW Executive Director Peter Bilotta: “It is rare to experience all of Bach's solo violin masterpieces together, and even a rarer treat to hear them exquisitely performed live by our own CMNW Artistic Director—and my artistic partner and friend—Soovin Kim. I am thrilled that our Portland audiences will be able to join us for this once-in-a-lifetime musical journey over two concert evenings and witness our own superstar violinist bring some of Bach's most intimate and moving works to life.”

Soovin Kim: Bach's Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin

THURSDAY, APRIL 3: Bach's Tremendous Technique & Style | Part 1
This first concert includes Bach's spirited Partita No. 3 in E Major and his technically challenging Sonata No. 2 in A Minor in the first half, then his spiritually and emotionally powerful Partita No. 2 in D Minor, with its beloved Chaconne, that closes the evening's program.

Part 1 Concert Program

J. S. BACH Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006

J. S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003

J. S. BACH Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MUSICIAN & PART 1 CONCERT DETAILS

SATURDAY, APRIL 5: Bach's Melodic & Harmonic Brilliance | Part 2

This second evening's concert begins with Bach's deeply resonant Sonata No. 1 in G Minor and his dance-inspired Partita No. 1 in B Minor, followed by the magnificent and inventive Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major for the concert's finale.

Part 2 Concert Program

J. S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001

J. S. BACH Violin Partita No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1002

J. S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MUSICIAN & PART 2 CONCERT DETAILS

ABOUT THE MUSICIAN

Soovin Kim, CMNW Artistic Director

Soovin Kim enjoys a broad musical career regularly performing Bach sonatas and Paganini caprices for solo violin, sonatas for violin and piano ranging from Beethoven to Ives, Mozart, and Haydn concertos and symphonies as a conductor, and new world-premiere works almost every season. When he was 20 years old, Kim received first prize at the Paganini International Violin Competition. He immersed himself in the string quartet literature for 20 years as the 1st violinist of the Johannes Quartet. Among his many commercial recordings are his “thrillingly triumphant” (Classic FM Magazine) disc of Paganini's demanding 24 Caprices and a two-disc set of Bach's complete solo violin works that were released in 2022.

Kim is the founder and artistic director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival (LCCMF) in Burlington, Vermont. In addition to its explorative programming and extensive work with living composers, LCCMF created the ONE Strings program through which all 3rd through 5th grade students of the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington study violin. The University of Vermont recognized Soovin Kim's work by bestowing an Honorary Doctorate upon him in 2015. In 2020, he and his wife, pianist Gloria Chien, became artistic directors of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon. He, with Chien, were awarded Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 2021 CMS Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music. Kim devotes much of his time to his passion for teaching at the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Yale School of Music in New Haven.

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