DoYeon Kim

The gayageum—a zither with as many as 25 strings that long ago accompanied Korean court music—is 1,500 years old. But after becoming a much-awarded master of the instrument’s traditional uses in Korea, DoYeon Kim approaches the instrument like it is altogether new, incorporating it into unlikely improvisational contexts and avant-garde compositions. In 2025 alone, she threaded her strings with the plangent bass of Brandon Lopez for a series of smoldering, noisy pieces on Syzygy, Vol. 1, then moved in intricate spiderwebs of sound with radical singer Laura Totenhagen on Gnomes. With the gayageum, Kim recalls the exploratory works of Zeena Parkins, who continues to situate the harp in unknown scenarios. “I became curious about how I could push past what the gayageum was supposed to do,” she has said, “and in that process, learned to push myself to a more honest me.”

Kim attended both the New England Conservatory and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, becoming the first person admitted for a traditional Korean instrument. (She later joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory.) Those were early signs of the boundaries she has broken with the gayageum. In collaborations with the likes of Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, and William Parker, she has realized new possibilities for her instrument. And she is the leader of increasingly audacious ensembles, sometimes staging shows that involve her dancing and drumming or full-band scores and improvisations with bundles of players. At Big Ears 2026, Kim will play a solo gayageum set as well as a duo with a special guest.