Hyun Shil (Rachel) Kim has been playing the violin for nearly 30 years. She is a violin performance graduate and a recipient of the Merit Scholarship Award from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Rachel has studied under international violin soloist, Mrs. Joan Kwuon. She began Suzuki training with Mrs. Sunny Lim (certified Suzuki teacher) and later advanced to studying with Mrs. Elizabeth Holburn (University of Michigan) and Mr. William FitzPatrick (Juilliard) as her main local teachers. Rachel also had the opportunity to perform masterclasses and study with multiple professors from the Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, Vanderbilt, Rice, NEC, and SF Music Conservatory.

In Rachel’s pre-college years, she was the youngest member to join the South Orange County Chamber Orchestra and has also won a section violin position in the highly competitive Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra for multiple years. She has played chamber music in the Junior Chamber Music program of Orange County and has been the awarded winner of the Voce Competition in South Orange County and the Korean American Young Artists Competition.

Rachel has been a pupil of the Musishare Program for seven years and has attended numerous music festivals such as the Killington Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood. Rachel currently performs, records, coaches/teaches at multiple music schools/programs, and has her own private violin studio. She has been an active performer and educator for the past 10 years. Even though her violin roots originated from a traditional classical background, she enjoys and has had the privilege of being involved in a wide variety of musical contexts such as performing and recording pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, film scores, video game music, musicals, and electronic dance music.

Rachel performs with a number of local orchestras multiple times throughout the year annually. She regularly collaborates with local orchestras around her community and has made appearances in public schools, hospitals, churches, and retirement centers. Rachel strives to bring music to her community and joined as many music programs and orchestras that were available in her area. Rachel has recorded music with artists such as Leo-Z, Tyler the Creator, Steve Martin, Hans Zimmer, etc. in Remote Control Productions Studio, Ocean Way Studio, and Megatrax Studio. She has been a participant in the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Dream Orchestra, Downey Symphony, Corona Symphony, UCLA Symphony, and the American Youth Symphony.