Conductor, composer, violinist and educator Paul Sanho Kim blends classical artistry with popular accessibility. An associate professor of music at Old Dominion University, Kim directs the ODU Symphony Orchestra, teaches conducting and violin, and coordinates the strings area. He also serves as music director of the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore as well as the symphony and string orchestra conductor of the Fine Arts Camps Europe/Czech Music Camp for Youth. Kim has led performances with the Virginia Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Waynesboro Symphony, and university orchestras across the U.S. and in China. He was also a conductor for Eurythmics star Dave Stewart and his Rock Fabulous Orchestra, conducting songs Stewart wrote for Eurythmics, Bono, Gwen Stefani, and others. A scholar of the music of Carl Roskott, Kim was the conductor and producer for the recording album Carl Roskott: Works for Violin, released under the Centaur Records label.
The composer of over thirty original works, Kim has been selected as the Virginia Music Teachers Association's Commissioned Composer for 2022. His symphonic poem for orchestra and drum set, Perseverance, recently received its Virginia premiere with Symphonicity in Virginia Beach. Where Darkness Meets Light, a multimedia composition for violin and cello in collaboration with artist Hannah Kirkpatrick, was performed at the Chrysler Museum of Art and at the 2017 Glass Art Society Conference to critical acclaim, and a digital album of the music (with Kim on violin) is available on iTunes and Amazon. Kim's arrangements of Radiohead songs for string quintet SYBARITE5 have been performed on NPR's Performance Today as well as at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Aspen Music Festival; one such cover helped earn SYBARITE5 a top-ten rating in Billboard's Classical Crossover Albums chart in 2011. The arrangements are commercially available on SYBARITE5's album Everything in Its Right Place. As a violinist, Dr. Kim is a member of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Virginia Symphony and Maryland Symphony as well as internationally.
Dr. Kim completed a D.M.A. in conducting performance at Shenandoah Conservatory. Previously, he earned an M.M. in orchestral conducting at the University of Maryland as well as an M.A. in music and a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Virginia. Primary conducting mentors were Jan Wagner, James Ross, and Carl Roskott. Kim also served as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.