KIM & COONROD DUO

Dr. Hyemin Kim is a versatile performing artist and esteemed educator who serves as a faculty member in Collaborative Piano at Interlochen Arts Academy. Her career spans multiple roles, including soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, collaborator, and educator, showcasing her breadth and depth in the world of classical music.

As a featured soloist, Kim has performed with several orchestras, including the Philharmonische Solisten Bratislava (Mozart Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Austria), Archi Chamber Orchestra (Sungsan Art Hall, South Korea), and Benzie Area Symphony Orchestra (Corson Auditorium, Interlochen, MI). She has also performed extensively across the U.S., Austria, and Korea, appearing at the Youngsan Grace Hall, Daejeon Culture and Art Foundation (Korea); Bad Goisern Landesmusikschule, Panmusica Austria, Landesverband Steiermark, Grazer Landesmuseum (Austria); the American Protégé Foundation (Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall), Music House Museum, and The Alluvion (U.S.). Kim has been recognized with numerous accolades in international piano competitions, including the Internationaler Wiener Pianisten-Wettbewerb, where she received a Schubert Special Award; the Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition; the Concorso Internazionale de Esecuzione Musicale “NUOVI TALENTI” – Città di Spinea; the Tadini International Music Competition; the Concorso Internazionale – Città di Ischia; Fanny Mendelssohn International Competition; Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition, and American Protégé International Competition.

As an active chamber musician, Kim has become a sought after collaborator. She was invited as a pianist at the Styrian Chamber Music Festival (Graz, Austria), and the Music House Museum (Acme, MI) has been organizing Hyemin Kim’s Concert Series “Classical Voyage” with renowned guest musicians including Nancy Stagnitta (Flute), Dr. Dane Philipsen (Oboe), Dr. Michael Coonrod (Piano), and Dr. Patrick Owen (Cello) from Interlochen Arts Academy. Her chamber music partners have included: Justin Benavidez (Associate Professor of Tuba/Euphonium, Eastman School of Music at Rochester University), Ethan Bensdorf (Trumpet, New York Philharmonic; Faculty, Manhattan School of Music), Hannah Hammel Maser (Principal Flute, Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Visiting Assistant Professor, Michigan State University), Sharon Sparrow (Assistant Principal Flute, Detroit Symphony Orchestra), Timothy Day (retired, Principal Flute, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra), William Purvis (Professor Horn, Yale School of Music), Jarrett McCourt (Principal Tuba, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium, University of Missouri – Kansas City), Christina Jennings (Associate Professor of Flute, University of Colorado Boulder), Yung-Chiao Wei (Professor of Double Bass, Louisiana State University), Keith Bunke (Principal Bassoon, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Faculty, DePaul University), and more.

Dr. Hyemin Kim holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance, as well as her second Doctorate in Collaborative Piano from Michigan State University, fully supported by Graduate Assistantships as a full scholarship recipient; a Master of Music and Postgraduate Diploma from Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz, Austria; and a Bachelor of Music from Kookmin University, South Korea. While completing her double Doctorates at MSU, Kim served as a Piano Instructor at Flint Institute of Music and as a Chief Mentor at the Celebrating the Spectrum Piano Festival from Michigan State. Currently, Dr. Kim serves as a committee member in Inclusive Teaching at The Piano Conference: NCKP 2025 and will join Blue Lake Arts Camp as a Piano Instructor starting in the summer 2025.

Dr. Michael Coonrod has recently retired from the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where he taught at the Arts Academy for 46 years and at the Arts Camp for 20 years. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, part of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, having studied with Konrad Wolff, biographer of Artur Schnabel. He has given lessons and master classes at the Face Art school of music in Shanghai China, the Eastman School of Music, the Chopin Academy in Warsaw Poland, and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy.

Dr. Coonrod premiered two concertos with orchestra–one by Richard Cioffari (2018), and another for the left hand alone by Kenji Bunch (2019). He has several recordings to his credit–The Life & Music by Albert James Fillmore, 50th Anniversary Favorites, a two-CD set of piano music by Franz Schubert, and most recently a recording of music by J.S. Bach, Brahms and Schumann, with works for the left hand alone.

In 1994, he presented 20 concerts of music by contemporary American composers. The series culminated in Poland, where he performed at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and at the Conservatory of Music in Poznan. As an orchestral soloist, he has performed Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Concerto No. 14 with the Louisville String Orchestra, and Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 with the Washington-Idaho Symphony. He has also performed for the American Liszt Society, Eastman School of Music, and Peabody Contemporary Music Ensemble. In 2010, Dr. Coonrod appeared at the University
of Qingdao, China as solo recitalist and chamber musician, and also as master class teacher. Dr. Coonrod served for eighteen years as resident pianist at Maple Mount Summer Institute for Young Musicians and coached chamber music in New Harmony, Indiana for select camp students. In 1996, he was included by the governor of Kentucky in the order of Kentucky Colonels for his outstanding contribution to education.
As retirement projects, Dr. Coonrod has formed a two-piano team with Interlochen Collaborative pianist Dr. Hyemin Kim. They both share a particular love for the music of Franz Schubert. He is also creating a diorama of the Missoula valley in Montana where he grew up. He and Jean Coonrod have three children–David, Michelline, Robert, and four grandchildren–Ava, Lander, Michael, and Calvin.