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Eunice Kim is one of those fortunate few that find what they love as a child, and are good enough to base their life around it. Having played violin since she was six years old, she first performed with a symphony when she was seven, and now, at 14, can play big concerts if she wants, and take a break if she feels like it.
So what motivates a young prodigy? Eunice modestly explains, "I know that I want to do this for my whole life, and I watch other kids play and I want to be just like them, because they're so good around the world, these days. I want to try harder every time I see other people and my role models, like other violinists."
Her role model and favorite violinist is Gil Shaham, an Israeli virtuoso who gathered attention after filling in for Itzhak Perlman with the London Symphony Orchestra. She also likes to listen to Isaac Stern, David Oistrakh, and Midori. "All the regular people that people listen to," she says with a laugh.
Eunice's performing career began in Seoul, Korea, with the KBS symphony when she was seven, and now, living in the Bay Area, she says that "when I'm in the mood for playing lots of concerts, I play maybe three or four major ones a month."
She has won several awards and scholarships, including first place in the Oakland East Bay Symphony Soloist competition. Additionally, she has taken master classes with artists such as Pamela Frank, Paul Kantor, Chee-Yun Kim, and the Emerson Quartet.
Eunice tries to practice four hours a day on weekdays (limited by her eighth grade honors schoolwork), and in the summers she does more.
Next year she will enroll in an arts school in San Francisco, and after that she hopes to go to Curtis, a school dedicated to highly gifted young musicians… or maybe Julliard.
As for her inspiration, "I like watching concerts and seeing how other people play, their styles," Eunice says. "I see a lot of other kids play—I see their concerts and they really motivate me."
When asked if she still gets nervous, she quickly replies, "No! I don't think I've ever been nervous." A born performer!
Her advice to other young musicians: "Just keep your head up—there are times when you just think you're really bad, you think you're not going to accomplish anything, but keep on trying and you can get it."
Eunice performs both solo and with orchestras, and she brings her youth to the show: "I make them really fun; I like to make it memorable."
To see how she makes a performance memorable, you can attend New Tang Dynasty TV's Chinese New Year Global Gala, where Eunice will be one of the featured performers. The show will take place Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 at 7 p.m. at the Flint Center in Cupertino, CA. Check www.gala.ntdtv.com
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