Biography
“The sheer vigour of her articulation was a wonder to behold, the creamy tone of her highest register and the extraordinary boom of the lower a phenomenon of sound projection.”
Bachtrack, reviewing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, July 2024
Bomsori’s passionate music-making is driven by a powerful urge to communicate. Having achieved superstar status in her homeland, the South Korean violinist is now a sought-after soloist on the international stage. Her breathtaking technical command serves as a vehicle for expressing every nuance, from grand dramatic outbursts to the subtlest of lyrical inflections. In short, she knows how to make her instrument sing.
Bomsori signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon in February 2021, sealing a relationship with the Yellow Label that began when she teamed up with now fellow DG artist Rafał Blechacz to record works by Fauré, Szymanowski, Debussy and Chopin. Released in January 2019, the album went on to garner widespread critical acclaim.
Bomsori’s DG solo debut recording, Violin on Stage, was released in June 2021. The album showcases original works and arrangements of music written for or inspired by opera or ballet, reflecting her desire to revive the legacy of such legendary violinists as Heifetz, Milstein and Kogan, as well as the close bond she feels with Poland, its music and musicians. Recorded in Wrocław with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic and Giancarlo Guerrero, the album includes Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie, Massenet’s “Méditation” and Wieniawski’s joyful Fantasia brilliante on themes from Gounod’s “Faust”.
As part of their long-term focus on the music of Carl Nielsen, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Fabio Luisi invited Bomsori to join them to perform and record the Danish composer’s Violin Concerto. Released in August 2023, the resulting album, which also included the composer’s Flute Concerto and Clarinet Concerto, was the winner of the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award.
Bomsori’s second solo album, Bruch & Korngold, presents Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, recorded with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša. The album also features a selection of excerpts from Korngold’s operatic and theatrical works. Bomsori and the orchestra play the “Garden Scene” from Much Ado About Nothing and an arrangement of “Marietta’s Lied” from the opera Die tote Stadt. The violinist is joined by Thomas Hoppe in “Ohne dich” and “Schönste Nacht” from Die stumme Serenade, both transcribed for violin and piano. Bruch & Korngold is set for release on 9 May 2025.
In recent years, Bomsori has performed with, among others, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Orquesta Nacional de España, and conductors of the calibre of Marin Alsop, Paavo Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Fabio Luisi, Sakari Oramo, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Krzysztof Urbański and Jaap van Zweden.
She earned praise from The New York Times for the “fierce dramatic commitment” of her debut performance with the New York Philharmonic in 2019 in the North American premiere of Tan Dun’s Violin Concerto Fire Ritual. 2023 BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic and Anja Bihlmaier: “her sustained romantic sensitivity in the central adagio’s lingering beauties, dispatched with a carefully calibrated gentle throb” – The Times. Others too have been quick to hail her qualities as a performer, with Crescendo magazine providing the perfect summary – “This violinist is ready for anything: with virtuosity, presence, clarity and a warm, rich tone, Bomsori is adept at making each moment her own.”
Her forthcoming live dates focus on her latest album’s repertoire, the Korngold Concerto and Bruch’s Concerto No. 1, with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker. They will present both works in Bamberg (17/18 May 2025), the Korngold at Munich’s Isarphilharmonie (19 May), and the Bruch at the Seoul Arts Center (1 June) and at the National Concert Hall in Taipei (3 June). The Seoul performance will be streamed on STAGE+ on 14 June. Bomsori will also perform the Bruch with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Philharmonic Hall (28 June). Over the summer, she gives a recital with Kit Armstrong and a chamber performance at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad (21/24 July), a recital with Fabian Müller at the Rheingau Musik Festival (10 August) and a recital with Thomas Hoppe at the Edinburgh International Festival (14 August).
Bomsori Kim, whose unusual first name means “sound of Spring”, was born in Daegu in 1989. Her music-loving parents encouraged their daughter’s innate musical talent. She took piano lessons at the age of four, began playing violin a year later and soon joined her parents and siblings in the family ensemble. While singing and ballet were among Bomsori’s childhood passions, she devoted her full attention to violin at the age of seven when she heard a performance by Kyung Wha-Chung. “After that, my dream was always to be a violinist,” she recalls.
After graduating from Seoul National University, where she studied with Young Uck Kim, Bomsori received a full scholarship to complete her postgraduate training with a master’s degree and artist diploma at New York’s Juilliard School. Her formidable combination of natural talent, hard work and compelling artistry also returned impressive results on the international competition circuit. She won prizes at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the International Sibelius Violin Competition, the ARD International Music Competition, the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover and the Sendai International Music Competition.
In 2016 Bomsori won Second Prize, the Critic’s Prize, and nine additional special prizes at the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. Rafał Blechacz was so impressed by the TV broadcast of her final-round performance that he invited her to work on his next chamber music project, describing her as “the perfect musical partner”.
Bomsori performs on the c.1725 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù “Moller” violin, generously loaned by The Samsung Foundation of Culture and The Stradivari Society of Chicago.
4/2025