Meet the Musicians: Helen Kim

By Leilani Polk

Clowes Family Associate Concertmaster Helen Kim began playing the violin at age 6, but didn’t decide to pursue a career in music until she was well into her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Her teachers and mentors encouraged her to explore a wide variety of solo and ensemble playing, and she credits them for her love of music-making with other people. She bloomed under the tutelage of a few key instructors with “very different approaches.” Robert Lipsett emphasized the importance of clear, efficient technique and self-discipline, while Margaret Batjer focused on thoughtful phrasing and beauty of tone. Kim was also deeply impacted by her time learning under and playing in a quartet with Midori Goto, USC Thornton’s Jascha Heifetz Chair and Judge Widney Professor of Music. “Every semester, she would coach a group of students from within the group, playing the second violin part and showing us how to listen with intention and perform with a united approach. She was very nurturing and dedicated, and she inspired many of us in the strings program to bring new perspectives to chamber music and our own playing.” 

Kim landed her first orchestra job with the St. Louis Symphony in 2011, starting directly after earning her graduate degree from the Yale School of Music (where she also met her future husband, composer Sam Adams). In 2016, she won the position of Associate Principal Second Violin in the San Francisco Symphony. She was appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony in 2019, but Covid lockdowns delayed her start in 2020. Kim and Adams welcomed their first child in August 2021, delaying her arrival in Seattle even further. She kicked off her first season here in September 2022, but put performing on hold when her second son was born in March, returning just in time to finish the season in June. 

Like most musicians who do not have the conventional 9-to-5 schedule, Kim and her husband are able to spend a great deal of time at home with their kids while balancing their work duties. Grandparents visit often, Kim adds, which proves enormously helpful in times of need. “There are definitely moments of utter chaos, but we are enjoying ourselves. In addition to a toddler and a baby, we have an excitable Goldendoodle and an ornery cat who only add to the general level of clutter and activity in the house. While it can be tiring to keep our dependents fed, clean and walked, we are managing. I’m trying to step back and savor every moment of this messy, unpredictable, wonderfully noisy time.”  

She does look forward to the day when 2-year-old Elias and 6-month-old Benji are big enough to enjoy some of their parents’ favorite pastimes: “Sam and I love camping and going on road trips, and I’m excited to do these things and more with the whole family.”