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Kayla Kim is a sixteen-year-old violist from Irvine, California. She began her musical training on the violin at age six before transitioning to the viola two years ago, and she currently studies under the tutelage of Gina Coletti at the Colburn School while attending the Orange County School of the Arts. Kayla has earned numerous national and regional honors as both a soloist and chamber musician. In 2025, she won the Silver Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the Coltman National Chamber Music Competition with her string quartet, Doxa. She was featured in The Strad Magazine and on KMFA 89.5, and received a masterclass from Eugene Drucker of the Emerson Quartet. In 2024, she was selected as the youngest of six finalists nationwide for the American Viola Society National Competition and was published in the Spring 2024 edition of the Journal of the American Viola Society, where she also participated in a masterclass with Tatjana Masurenko. Additionally, she won first prize in both the ASTA Regional and ASTA LA Final rounds. As an orchestral musician, Kayla has held several leadership positions. She served as the principal violist of the 2025 California All-State High School Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the OCSA Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2024, she was selected for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2), where she served as assistant principal violist and performed at Carnegie Hall and the Meyerson Symphony Center. Earlier in her training, she performed as concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings, OCSA String Orchestra, and OCSA Chamber Orchestra as a violinist. Kayla is an active chamber musician of six years and has performed as a Debut Artist in the Junior Chamber Music (JCM) Debut Concert. She is currently in her third year of the Colburn Honors Chamber Program. Her early violin accolades include first prizes at SYMF, Satori Summer Music Festival (including the Judges Distinction Award), MTAC Scholarship Competition, American Protégé, and VOCE regional and state competitions. After winning first prize at American Protégé at age ten, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. Outside of music, Kayla enjoys practicing archery, reading, spending time with her dog Alfie, and exploring tasty new matcha spots.
B. Bartók, Viola Concerto, 1st mvt
