Charles Kim

Charles Byungkyu Kim is a composer currently living in Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Charles began taking piano lessons at the age of 5 and began composing at age 12. He moved to Baltimore in 1990 to attend the Johns Hopkins University. In 2002 Charles moved to Los Angeles to further pursue his music career. He has worked on various films inluding Solaris (2002), Wonderland (2003) and Wicker Park (2004) as a music programmer and additional music composer as well as working on his own solo projects. Charles scored the short film, “Together,” directed by Sunghee Hong. He has also composed music for the feature films, First Snow, directed by Mark Fergus and Hers, directed by Jeong Jung Kim. Charles released his first CD, Polis, in 2006.

Charles received his Bachelors and Masters Degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Dr. Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Dr. Geoffrey Wright. Charles also has a degree in computer science from the G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University where he graduated with honors.

Charles was awarded the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award in 1993. This provided a grant to realize his electronic works, “Drama” for mixed ensemble and “Does Spring Come to a Lost Land?” for soprano, electronics and tape. Charles has also won various other composition awards including the the Randolph S. Rothschild Award(1995) and the Frank D. Willis Award(1996). Charles also received the AT&T award in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University.

Other compositions by Kim have been performed numerous times in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area including performances at the Peabody Conservatory, the Walters Art Gallery, the Visionary Arts Museum, the Corcoran Gallery in D.C., the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College and at Loyola College as part of the Baltimore Da Camera Singers’ performance series. Charles’s music has also been broadcast on the WJHU radio station in Baltimore. In July of 1995, an interview of Charles based on his work as a computer music composer was broadcast around the world on CNN. Charles has also composed for theater including musicals, operas, and film soundtracks.