Sarah Kim - Festival Recitalist 2011
Sarah Kim is destined for stellar status as an international concert organist. In concert in 2007, on the old Auckland Town Hall organ, her musicality and virtuosity stunned the audience.
Already her concert career has taken her from top venues in Australia
and New Zealand to Europe. She returns to the Auckland Town Hall and its 2010 Klais organ for the The King's Birthday Auckland Organ Festival, for the festival organ concert, and to play one of two organs in the Widor Mass for Two Organs and Two Choirs. She also performs the following weekend in Wellington.
Born in Cologne, Sarah Kim began her musical career in Sydney, where she maintained a busy schedule performing as a soloist and accompanist for renowned ensembles, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Chamber Choir, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, in major concert venues across Australia and New Zealand.
Sarah began her musical studies at an early age on the violin and piano. She started learning the organ at the age of eleven with Miriam Gaydon, and later continued her organ studies with Philip Swanton at the Sydney Conservatorium. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2005 with First Class Honours and the University Medal, Sarah was awarded a 'Travelling Scholarship' by the University of Sydney to continue her studies overseas. She was the first organist in three years to be selected into the prestigious 'Cycle de Perfectionnement' at the Paris Conservatoire and later into the Master's degree in Organ Performance with Oliver Latry and Michel Bouvard, where she recently graduated with first prize and high distinction.
Since her arrival in Europe, Sarah has had numerous opportunities to perform on significant instruments throughout Europe. She has given solo recitals at the Royal Chapel of Versailles, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Uppsala Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Eustache, Les Invalides in Paris, and has also participated in a variety of music festivals in France. She featured as continuo organist with the 'Ensemble Orchestral de Paris' and in 2009 she performed Handel's Organ Concerti with the Swedish Baroque Orchestra and the Oxford Band of Instruments. Recent performances have been given in Vienna (Schottenkirche), Spain (Liétor), London (St Michael's All Angels), Germany (Ottobeuren, Erding), Italy (Basilica of St Anthony, Padua), France (Chartres Cathedral, Bourges Cathedral, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, St Eustache).
Since September 2010, she has also been specialising in early music at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Wolfgang Zerer (professor at Hamburg Musikhochschule), Andrea Marcon (director of the Venice Baroque Orchestra), Lorenzo Ghielmi (professor at Milan Conservatory), and Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis).
Prize-winner of several competitions, including the 2004 Sydney Organ Competition, 2005 Newcastle Organ Competition, and the 2007 International Paris Competition, Sarah is currently organist of the French Classical organ at Notre-Dame-des-Vertus in Paris.
