Jeong-In Kim enjoys a career as both a solo and collaborative pianist performing throughout the USA, South Korea, Japan, China, Italy, Canada, England, and Germany. She served as a staff pianist at the Cincinnati Ballet, Northern Kentucky University, and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Opera Production. She gave her Carnegie Hall debut winning first prize at the American Protégé String and Piano Duo Competition in 2013.
Jeong-In has been awarded numerous fellowships from festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival and School, Kent Blossom Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Spoleto Music Festival in Italy.
Currently she lives in Seoul, South Korea with her husband, two children and golden retriever, and enjoys residing just minutes from BTS' headquarters.
I met Jeong-In while we were both living in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is one of my favorite humans on the planet. I’ve been so excited to share this conversation with her on UNMEASURED. Read, and listen, to the interview below.
I would love to talk about music. I’m curious to know what it’s like to have studied something so deeply, and what it’s like to perform.
It's kind of a joke to me - getting a music degree. How can I compare it? Think about if you have a degree in literature. There is so much to read in the world. Is it meaningful to have a degree in literature? It's a lifelong project, right?
It's the same with music. Classical music is sort of like musical literature. There's a vast amount of music and we have to really invest our time and discover it over a lifetime.
I did my studies and what the school required me to do to get a degree. I did it. But that was just part of my journey in this job. This project is a lifelong project, which I am very much trying to do.
But with the kids getting older, time-wise it's not as dense a study. While I was in school, I could focus my time on studying and practicing music. But now it's a little different.
It's a lifelong project. Classical music to me is also about going back. People are always asking things like “why do we have to listen to that old Beethoven and Bach music again? It’s old, created over 200-300 years ago.”
It's like you're reading the classics again. Every time you read the classics, you get something from the book.
And then as you get older, some sentences touch you differently than at other ages. Classical music, for me, is like that.
Jeong-in playing the piano with other instrumentalists as part of Project 513 last year.
I love Beethoven, he’s my all-time favorite composer. He was a relatively older composer compared to other composers. Like Mozart, and Schubert they lived to be 30-something. But Beethoven was about 50.
He seemed like he lived long enough to understand life, by that age. It’s sort of like he was reflecting his life in his music.
But other composers that lived shorter lives - it's still a debate because people think they were very genius. They lived only 30-something years, but they lived a dense life. So they experienced everything. So that makes sense too.
But for me, at certain ages, you feel something different. You are not the same as when you were 20.
That's why we always go back to those classics. It comes to me very differently every time I listen to it and every time I play it.
So I keep going back.
Jeong-In emphasizes the important role of classical music in society, which led her to become an entrepreneur. She founded Salon21 Cincinnati, a series of intimate piano concerts in unexpected places as well as Bumblebee Music Korea in Seoul, a classical music concert for children. Jeong-In also works with mothers in their pursuit of a healthy balance between parenting and artistry. She has been featured on the Art Parenting Social Club's podcast.
You’ve created projects that bring classical music to people who might not otherwise experience it. I’d love to hear more about your projects and what’s next for you with music.
It's been a long time since I gave a solo recital. I've been doing lots of chamber music together with other instrumentalists.
When I came to Korea, I did something like Salon 21, for the kids. It was called Bumblebee Music Korea. I created performances specifically for kids 0-6.
In Korea, there were not many concerts for little kids. It’s always restricted under seven. You cannot get into the performance hall and things like that.
“Going to concerts and listening to live music, for me, is sort of my remedy for my life.”
So in 2017 when Dominic was born, after giving birth I had a huge postpartum. My life seemed gone because of this kid. Going to concerts and listening to live music, for me, is sort of my remedy for my life. But I couldn't do it because I was taking care of the kid. Kevin took care of Dominic so I went to a couple, but it was not the same as when I had the freedom to go whenever I wanted.
So I decided to create a concert where kids can come together with Mom.
With those two projects, I’ve thought a lot about how to introduce classical music to the younger generations and to little kids.
My last solo performance was in 2018 or 2019. So it's been three, four years now. My next project is to give a solo recital next year before summer.
It's important for me to have a product like Salon 21 or Bumblebee, but at the same time, my identity is as a performer and pianist.
Performing gives me a deeper study and relationship with my music and also cumulates to be a foundation of another product.
It's funny because when I was young, I just practiced and gave recitals. But as I get older, I feel more like I'm a part of society too.
This is not just for me, my pleasure. If this is my pleasure, I need to share this pleasure with people. Classical music can be for anybody, like any of those classic books can be read by anybody.
When I didn't have any kids I was looking at the young professionals, but then after I had kids I was looking at the kids. My thoughts on music are kind of always evaluating and evolving on where to go.
And so, I don't know, maybe my kids become teenagers. Maybe I'll see some music jobs for teenagers. Or see more music for older generations too - maybe hobbies for them to learn instruments or something.
I have a lot of products I want to do. But still, it's a balance between being a performer and the producer of some projects.
That's how my music is going right now.
Jeong-in playing the piano with other instrumentalists as part of Project 513 in 2021.
Can you tell me about a pivotal moment for you in your life?
I thought giving birth would change my career as a performer and a musician, but actually, it didn't.
I would say the moment I felt like “Can I play again?” was actually last February, I had cancer. That was the moment.
Because now I remember that after giving birth, I came back on the stage within three months.
But after having surgery twice and then also having treatment, I was out of performing and practicing for more than eight months. So it was really hard to come back.
It's like in athletics if you stopped working out. Then you have to come back, it's kind of really hard.
“The life coming out of my body and the bad things coming out of my body were very different experiences.“
It's interesting to see that the cancer cells and babies were both something that came out of my body. But it was a very different experience. The life coming out of my body and the bad things coming out of my body were very different experiences and that kind of affected my body too.
When the bad things came out from my body, my body was just so exhausted and it was slow to recover. Things were just very a part, and it was very hard to come back.
My surgery was in February and my treatment was at the end of May. I had one performance that I’d committed to a year ago, which was at the end of August. I was seriously thinking about canceling because my hands were not ready, and my mind was not ready. But many of my pianist friends recommended “even though you are not 100% ready, you should go back to the stage because that's how you go back. Unless you want to quit being a pianist.”
So I did it. I asked my friend to help me at half stage. I did a half stage, and it was not perfect, and I made lots of mistakes. But I was just so thankful to be back on the stage again.
That gave me the confidence to go back to my musician life again. So I played again in October. It’s a little bit of a process, it's slow. But that's why I want to have my solo recital, to come back to myself as a pianist and performer again, to be in shape.
“I would say I overcame and it's still a process.”
So that was my pivoting moment. Can I do it? Or can I not do it? I would say I overcame and it's still a process.
What would you say are the important parts of your story?
I decided to go to the United States to study when I was in my twenties. Living there for a long time, it kind of changed a lot of my thoughts on my life and my philosophies.
Your teenage years are very important to build up some thoughts and your philosophy and your faith and everything. But I think the twenties were also very important to me. What you see, what you’re inspired by, and who you meet.
So for me, I went to a completely different world - the opposite side of the world. Exposing myself to and hitting on everything I'd never done before. Even languages, I couldn't speak any English when I moved there.
Starting from the bottom again, that was an important moment in my life. It gives me more confidence in myself. Well, there were so many moments that were so frustrating, but overall, it opened a new world.
Challenging myself when I was in my 20s gives me the opportunity to do it now. When you get older, you want to be more comfortable. But I'm still wanting to challenge myself to go to some new places to do new things.
The next new thing is for my kids to go to the States. I didn't grow up in the United States, so I’ll have to adjust to the education systems there and how to do all those kinds of things with my kids.
It's hard and it's going to be really challenging for me. But I'm excited to explore and see how it works.
What does freedom mean to you?
I think for me, that word is about being your own. We trap ourselves so much by others’ opinions. How they look at me, and how they think about me. Instead of, how do I think about myself? And how do I look at myself?
Identity is really important for me too. That was very much what I was struggling with in the States while I was studying abroad, and being an Asian while studying abroad. I don't want to use the word to fight … but we had to sort of fight for the spot to get a scholarship or get a job.
I mean that happens everywhere. But specifically for me, I had to identify myself. Who am I and who do I want to be.
Sometimes I feel like when I'm writing a journal, I feel like it’s not really my own journal. I feel like, oh, I'm writing this because in the future I want somebody to read this journal. You know what I mean? So that's not freedom.
Freedom for me is to be my own, and myself. Who I want to be.
Even with kids too. I love my kids, I really really do. I’m really thankful that they came to our family, and to me. At the same time, I don't want to lose myself. I'm not a person who is giving 100% to my kids.
“It's just me being me and them being them. I think that separation is very important for me and for them too.”
I don't think that's very healthy, especially for me. I need to really set up myself first. It's not about, like, priority or something like that. It's just me being me and them being them. I think that separation is very important for me and for them too.
Freedom for me is identifying myself, and being my own. That’s really important.
Also, being a Christian, if I'm writing a journal it’s sort of like a letter to God. This is how I feel, like “I feel awful today about this.” I want to be very vulnerable.
“After a certain age I felt like being vulnerable actually is more freedom.”
With people too. Before, I thought I should make myself very perfect to other people. That was my goal. But then after a certain age I felt like being vulnerable actually is more freedom. It gives me more freedom with other people, too. Like “hey, I'm waiting for this, this, this, this. Could you please help me?” And then that kind of gives a synergy in a relationship, too. I don't want to be perfect to people. I want to share my weakness.
I learned that from my language too. In English, I'm not a perfect speaker. But I express myself sincerely without any hidden feelings or anything. Being vulnerable to people. I’ve experienced that more people understand me and feel connected to me when I am open and more vulnerable.
What a thoughtful and insightful interview. I loved learning about Jeong-In’s musical life and perspective— such an astute analogy to literature too. It is indeed a life project, as are so many of the things we pursue in our lives.