DoYeon Kim

DoYeon Kim is an internationally acclaimed artist known for her uniquely broad and deep musical approach. Traditionally trained on the gayageum (an ancient Korean zither), her work synthesizes Korean, jazz and improvisation idioms, and she is regarded worldwide for introducing the gayageum into contemporary music. Recognized as one of 7 Musicians Pushing Ancient Asian Instruments Into The Future (Grammy.com, 2021), she has received the Van Lier Fellowship (2023) and been nominated for a Korean Grammy Award (crossover category, 2018). Most recently, she was selected as a Next Jazz Legacy awardee (2025), further solidifying her presence in the contemporary jazz scene.

During her traditional Korean training, DoYeon won numerous international competitions (e.g. Dong-A Ilbo Traditional Music Competition; On-Nala Korean Music Competition), and later received graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory (contemporary improvisation department) and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute; in both programs, she was the first student ever admitted playing a Korean traditional instrument. DoYeon has since served on faculty at the New England Conservatory and The New School, and guest lectured at many universities worldwide, including Harvard, Franz Liszt Academy and Universidad Nacional De Colombia.

DoYeon regularly leads her own music projects comprising various formats (trio, quartet, quintet, large ensemble) and collaborates with numerous composers and performers. She is an invited composer for the Delirium Musicum string orchestra, and music director and conductor for the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra, a traditional music orchestra in Korea. She has performed and recorded alongside many notable musicians, including Tyshawn Sorey, Mark Dresser, Kris Davis, Peter Evans, Matt Mitchell, Anna Webber, Joe Morris, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Cooper-Moore, William Parker.