About

An aspiring musician and teacher, Dr. Minji Kim currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Music and the conductor of the College Choir and Women's Choir at Gordon College, Wenham, MA. She is dedicated to genuine and heartfelt music-making in performances and classrooms. Besides her appointment at Gordon College, she also serves as the Music Director for the Newburyport Choral Society, one of the oldest and largest community choirs in New England.

Among her recent accomplishments, Kim’s performance of Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore with the University of Maryland Summer Chorus was selected as a finalist for the 2019-2020 American Prize in the choral conducting division. In addition, one of her performances of the 20th-century American composer Norman Dello Joio’s work with the UMD Chorale during the season of 2018-2019 was selected as a finalist for the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.

Kim has professionally sung and performed with major orchestras, and some of her highlighted experiences of professional singing include a performance of Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Nicholas McGegan and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Gianandrea Noseda. She also served as a chorus master for various works including the premier work “Across the Lines of Dreams” by Roxanna Panufnik for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Marin Alsop’s leadership, Kurt Weill’s oratorio “The Road of Promise” for the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and Handel’s “Messiah” for the University of Maryland Chamber Orchestra, and the opera “Susannah” by Carlisle Floyd for the Texas Tech Opera Studio. 

Kim is an active adjudicator and a clinician, having presented at regional and national conferences. Most recently, she shared her research about Korean Contemporary Choral Composers and the Performance Practice Consideration at the National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference in Atlanta. In the spring of 2024, she will be presenting at the Eastern American Choral Directors Association conference in RI. Her expressive conducting has been highly acclaimed. She was selected as a fellow and a conductor participant for the 2021 ACDA National Conference Graduate Conducting Masterclass, the 2019 National Collegiate Choral Organization conducting masterclass with María Guinand, and the Yale School of Music’s Norfolk Chamber Choir with Simon Carrington.

Kim earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting at the University of Maryland, Master of Music degree at the Ohio State University, and Bachelor of Music in composition at Yeungnam University, South Korea. Her conducting teachers include Dr. Edward Maclary, Prof. David Neely, Prof. Richard Bjella, Dr. Alan Zabriskie, Dr. Kristina Caswell MacMullen, and Dr. Robert Ward. Prior to her appointment at Gordon College, she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Choral Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.