Ellora Management

Ahmad Jamal  • Hiromi Uehara •  JooWan Kim
Mina Agossi •  International Groove Conspiracy

    JooWan Kim and the Ensemble Mik Nawooj

       JooWan Kim's performing schedule

Joo Wan Kim
JooWan Kim was born in Pusan, South Korea, 1978. He came to San Francisco, CA in 1998, and about a year later, received a scholarship for composition and piano performance from the Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, where he graduated with honor (summa cum laude) in the spring of 2003. Even though he had natural talent for music, JooWan didn’t pursue music seriously until 1997. Prior to that, he had been one of the top academic students at An-Yang high school. In the fall of 1997, Kim met professor Hun Sunwoo at Kang-Nam University and started his initial training in harmony and composition. Since his family wasn’t affluent enough to afford lessons from a college professor, JooWan thought he would work to pay for his lessons. However, after listening to his improvisations on the piano, professor Sunwoo started giving lessons free of charge.

As he was attending the Berklee College of Music, JooWan started practicing Sundo(Korean Taoist Internal Alchemy) and Traditional Rinzai Zen, under the guidance of Venerable Hyunoong Sunim at the Sixth Patriarch Zen Center in Berkeley, CA where he resided from 1998 to 2004. This experience made a huge influence in his personal and musical development. In 2004, JooWan conceived the “Book of Mik Nawooj (2004-2005)”, a musical Taoist mythology which depicts the main character Mik Nawooj’s pursuit of the ultimate power. The suite consists of 5 pieces that are varied in styles, genres and instrumentation. It includes a string orchestra, fusion octet with a rapper, duet with electronics, and, two chamber orchestras

In 2005, he formed Ensemble Mik Nawooj, which instrumentation includes flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, drum set, bass and an emcee. It was for this ensemble that Kim wrote the “Great Integration”, the next chapter for “Book of Mik Nawooj”. JooWan had attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, SF, CA, from 2004 to 2006 with a scholarship in composition. While at the Conservatory, he had composed for various soloists, ensembles, orchestras, as well as performing with his own EMN. In the spring of 2006, he graduated from the Conservatory with master’s degree in composition. On December 10th, 2006, his Concerto Passacaglia for piano and orchestra will be performed by the Berkeley Symphony and a piece for solo trombone and orchestra will be performed in, Athens, Greece, December, 2007. He is currently working on the piece for trombone and orchestra, a chamber concerto for the virtuoso violist Jodi Levitz (who also teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory), the second part of Great Integration (Celestial King), and an electronic album with DJ Malicious.

Joo Wan KimHis genuine love for classical, hip-hop, jazz, film score and many other genres in conjunction with the training in traditional Western European composition and Taoist, Buddhist spiritual disciplines created a unique sound that separates him from the most other musicians. Kim believes that the world is going through a profound alchemical changes right now, and his music is reflecting this “Great Integration”.


JooWan lives in Berkeley, CA and can be found at local fine tea shops either drinking tea, meditating, or composing.

JooWan Kim's performing schedule

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