Brightfeather at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

American pianist Irene Kim, a critically acclaimed prize-winner of international competitions, has performed across the globe in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australasia appearing in venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress. She is known for her powerful and authoritative performances, which include the rare feat of performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto without a conductor.

Irene has garnered top prizes at the Liszt International Young Artist, Carmel Music Society, Korean Concert Society, Yale Gordon, and Russell C. Wonderlic competitions amongst others. She debuted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has performed at venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Musco Center for the Arts, Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Library of Congress, and Coachella.

Continuously fascinated by the music and art of her contemporary surroundings, she works frequently with living composers and collaborates with visual artists and dancers. Her additional training as a conductor and piano technician informs her performance practice and instruction.

She holds a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory, where she was awarded the Albert and Rosa Silverman Memorial Scholarship and the Lillian Gutman Memorial Piano Prize by the Conservatory for her musical endeavors during her studies there with Boris Slutsky, Benjamin Pasternack, and Leon Fleisher.

Violinist Benjamin Hoffman has been heard across Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and the North America, where he has given countless performances as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader. He has performed alongside artists such as Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, Peter Frankl, Wolfram Christ, Jorja Fleezanis, and Gary Hoffman among others, in various chamber music formations at festivals such as Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen, and Music Academy of the West. In his Carnegie Hall debut, he performed Aaron Jay Kernis’s “Mozart en Route” and Hindemith’s “Kammermusik Nr. 1.” Recently, he had the honor of performing before UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon as a member of Sejong Soloists at the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Hoffman has served as concertmaster from an early age, performing both symphonic repertoire as well as chamber orchestra repertoire without conductor. Last year he led the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of John Adams at Avery Fisher Hall in New York to critical acclaim, and he has also appeared as guest concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Sichuan Orchestra of Chengdu, and Symphony Song in Seoul, Korea. In a recent performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, he was praised for his “virtuosity and deep feeling…impeccable intonation [and] a stirring, inspired performance.” Other appearances as a soloist have included numerous concertos as well as works ranging from solo Bach to Brahms’s Double Concerto to contemporary premieres in venues such as the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, China.

Free concerts at noon every Monday from fall through spring . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970 at the Athenaeum, and has been going strong ever since. The concerts feature both local and touring musicians, prize-winning students, university music faculty members, local chamber ensembles. . . and the repertoire also includes jazz, folk and world music. There are no reservations, no tickets . . . just line up at the side door of the Athenaeum before noon. (Donations are always welcome!) Mini-Concerts take place every Monday at noon and last about an hour.

The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Doors open at 11:50 a.m. Seating is first-come; first-served. These events will be presented in compliance with State of California and County of San Diego health regulations as applicable at the time of each concert.

Masks optional. If you have a fever, cough, or flu-like symptoms, please stay home.