Korean Violinist Min Kim: His Devotion to and Achievements in Chamber Music

Western music in Korea has barely a one hundred-year history, and it developed particularly rapidly after the Korean War (1950-1953) as the economy began to grow. In the present day, many Koreans have been trained as professional musicians. Despite the individual successes of Korean musicians, there have been few Korean ensembles that have gained international renown.;The purpose of this study is to provide a complete overview of the Korean violinist Min Kim, including his biography, teaching, and especially his great influence on and achievements in chamber music in Korea. The main sources of material for this study are interviews with Min Kim and several of his pupils, conducted by the author, and articles in journals which were written based on interviews with Kim. Previously published interviews with Kim have been translated from Korean to English by the author. It also presents a general overview of the history of the violin in Korea. The study consists of five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) A musical history of the violin in Korea, (3) Korean violinist Min Kim, (4) Kim as a director and leader of the Korean Chamber Orchestra, and (5) Conclusion.;Min Kim (1942-) is one of the most influential violinists in Korea, and he is considered to be the leader of the fourth generation of great violinists in the country. After studying at Seoul National University, he went to Germany to study as a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service) student in 1969, where he had various musical experiences, especially as a chamber and orchestral musician. In 1979, Kim returned from Germany, and began to share his musical experiences with the next generation of Korean musicians. He especially contributed many achievements in the development of chamber music in Korea. Kim devoted most of his musical life to the Korean Chamber Orchestra, which was founded in 1965 by cellist Bong Cho Jeon (1919-2002), and disbanded in 1975. In 1979, Kim reorganized the ensemble, and it gave a second debut concert in 1980. Since then, the ensemble has given approximately five hundred concerts in Korea and other countries around the world.;The primary finding of this study is that Min Kim had a great influence on the development of Western music in Korea, especially on violin and chamber music. There is no doubt that Kim was one of the most important pioneers of chamber music in Korea, and that he and the Korean Chamber Orchestra enabled chamber music to become firmly rooted in the country. Subsequent generations should continue studying and performing chamber music in order to further develop the country\u27s musical tradition