Soomin Kim is a composer and singer who is curious about herself and the world around her. She likes to draw inspiration from Korean and Asian American literature, personal and ancestral stories, and ancient musical traditions, and reimagine them in a modern context. In 2026, she received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is also the winner of three Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2019, 2020, 2022), University of Florida Call for Scores by Women Composers (2024), Woods Chandler Memorial Prize (2022), and Frances E. Osborne Kellogg Memorial Prize (2021).
Soomin’s work has been presented internationally by ensembles and musicians including the Minnesota Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, University of Florida Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, Oberlin Sinfonietta, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, Zeitgeist, 10th Wave Chamber Music Collective, Lisa Moore, Ji Su Jung, JIJI, and Ariana Kim. Her music has been featured at such festivals and conferences as the Ravinia Festival, Sydney Festival, Korean Composers Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Norfolk New Music Workshop, and soundSCAPE Festival.
Soomin holds both a Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts in composition from the Yale School of Music, and is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she is currently a visiting assistant professor of composition.