Violinist Esme Arias-Kim

Violinist Esme Arias-Kim is currently a Merit Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for outstanding pre-college students. She is also a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative.

Esme began her violin studies at the age of two and a half, made her solo orchestral debut at 10 with the Oistrakh Symphony, and has had solo appearances with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Sinfonia da Camera, Ottawa Chamber Orchestra, Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Accademia d’Archi Arrigoni Orchestra, and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also presented solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center, 92Y New York and Musikferien am Starnberger See in Germany.

Esme is a first-place winner in many prestigious competitions. During the summer of 2018, she was the only American among the 16 finalists selected to compete in Il Piccolo Violino Magico International Competition in Italy. In 2020, she received Grand Prize in the Junior division of the Sphinx Competition and was awarded the Overall Open Division Grand Winner and Open Senior Division Overall Winner in the 2020 Walgreens National Concerto Competition. Esme has also appeared on NPR’s From the Top.

Esme Arias-Kim performs on a violin by Alfredo Contino, courtesy of Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins and Guarneri Hall NFP.