Conductor, composer, and violinist Paul Sanho Kim blends classical artistry with popular accessibility. An associate professor at Old Dominion University, Kim teaches conducting and violin, coordinates the strings area, and directs the ODU Symphony Orchestra, which had the honor of performing at the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference in 2022. Also the conductor of Peninsula Youth Orchestra in Newport News, Kim previously served as music director of the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore for ten years and the symphony orchestra conductor of the Czech Music Camp for Youth for five years. He has led performances with the Virginia Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Waynesboro Symphony, and university orchestras across the U.S. and in China. Kim 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 album Carl Roskott: Works for Violin, released by Centaur Records.
The composer of over thirty works, Kim premiered his piano trio 7/7 as the Virginia Music Teachers Association’s 2022 Commissioned Composer. Other compositions include It’s Raining Cats and Dogs and Nebula, both commissioned by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Perseverance for orchestra and drum set, performed by Virginia Beach’s Symphonicity; and Where Darkness Meets Light for violin and cello (available on iTunes), performed at the Chrysler Museum of Art and at the 2017 Glass Art Society Conference to critical acclaim. 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; they are available on Sybarite5’s album Everything in Its Right Place. As a violinist, Kim was a fifteen-year member of the Roanoke Symphony and has performed with the Virginia Symphony and Maryland Symphony as well as internationally.
Dr. Kim holds graduate conducting degrees at Shenandoah Conservatory and the University of Maryland, as well as an M.A. in music and a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Virginia. Primary mentors include Jan Wagner, James Ross, and Carl Roskott. Kim also served as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.