Michael Jinsoo Lim

Biography

Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised for his “showmanship to spare,” “terrific swagger” and “delicious abandon” by Gramophone, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music,” and described as “a tour de force” and “bewitching” by the Seattle Times. Concertmaster and solo violinist for the internationally-acclaimed Pacific Northwest Ballet, he enjoys a dynamic career as a soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician and recording artist.

Lim’s solo violin appearances with Pacific Northwest Ballet include performances in Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Seattle, of works such as Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and Duo Concertant, Prokofiev’s first Violin Concerto, Max Richter’s Vivaldi Four Seasons Recomposed, Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel and Richard Einhorn’s rock and roll-inspired piece for electric violin, Maxwell’s Demon. His solos have been heard at the Paris festival Les étés de la danse and the Vail International Dance Festival.

His recent solo album Kinetic has been highly-acclaimed by the press. Gramophone said “This intelligently assembled recital of contemporary solo violin music provides a vivid portrait of Michael Jinsoo Lim’s first-class musicianship and technical finesse,” while noting that “Lim’s reading is thrilling in its virtuosity yet offers charm and a sense of fun as well.” The WholeNote called it a “remarkable solo album” and “a fascinating recital of quite brilliant playing by Lim.”

Lim’s discography can be found on Naxos, Planet M, Sono Luminus, DreamWorks, Albany, Bridge, CRI, Bayer Records, RIAX and New Focus. He has recorded numerous world premieres, including commissioned solo violin pieces by Leillehua Lanzilotti, Paola Prestini and Melia Watras; Andrew Waggoner’s Violin Concerto; and chamber music by John Corigliano.

For twenty years, Lim toured and recorded with the Corigliano Quartet, a group he co-founded. With the quartet, he won the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming, and performed in the nation’s leading music centers, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center. The quartet’s Naxos label CD was honored as one of The New Yorker’s Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year.

Offstage endeavors include his role as director and co-founder of Planet M Records, serving as producer for three critically acclaimed albums by violist/composer Melia Watras, his work as lyricist for a number of compositions by Watras, and an appearance alongside Jinkx Monsoon in a promotional video for the city of Seattle. Lim is the inspiration for a character in Erica Miner’s operatic mystery novel, Death by Opera.

Lim was among the final pupils of legendary violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold at Indiana University. He later studied chamber music at the Juilliard School, where he also taught as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. He has served on the faculty of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, taught at Indiana University as a guest professor, and has given violin and chamber music classes throughout the US and in France, Korea and Mexico. He currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.

—May 2025