Alex Kim, 17, is a junior at Mountain View High School in California. He currently studies with John McCarthy through the Pre-College program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
He showed a strong interest in classical music from an early age and began studying piano at the age of seven and violin at the age of ten. Alex was selected as one of five finalists to compete in the U.S. national division of the 2021 Music International Grand Prix.
Additionally, Alex won First Place in the American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music in 2021 and 2023 and performed at Carnegie Hall on both occasions. Over the past three years, he has been selected to perform at the Junior Bach Festival and was chosen as a winner of the OPUS National Music Competition, the ENKOR International Music Competition, the American Soloist International Music Competition, the Couperin International Music Competition, and the Bellagrande International Music Competition.
He has also won First Place in numerous competitions, including the Great Composers Competition (Best Liszt Performance), the Charleston International Music Competition, and the Elite International Music Competition. In the last two years, Alex has participated in masterclasses with pianists Shai Wosner, Jacob Greenberg, and Victor Rosenbaum.
In 2025, he won the Grand Prize and a scholarship at the Prodigy International Music Competition, and in the summer he participated in the Young Artists Piano Program at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
During his free time, he enjoys cross-country running, competitive math, being part of the school Science Olympiad team, and giving back to his community through classical music.
F. Liszt, Transcendental Etude No. 11, S. 139
