Ariana Kim, bassoon

Meet Ariana

Ariana performs on Show 445.

Ariana Kim (bassoon), 16, hails from Irvine, California and is a junior at Orange County School of the Arts. In 2023, she was selected as a soloist for the OCSA concerto competition, semifinalist for The Music Center’s Spotlight, and honorable mention for the Music Teachers National Association State Competition. Ariana started the bassoon at the age of six at the Tampere Conservatory in Finland, where she was an annual Conservatory winner. In sixth grade she was given full scholarship to the Orange County Music and Dance Studio. She attended multiple music programs as a scholarship student such as the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in 2021, and Brevard Music Center in 2022. She has participated in all-state and all-southern groups since middle school, most recently playing in the California All-State Symphony Orchestra in 2023. Ariana has held the principal position in the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra for 2 years, and is a cofounder of Sol Soul Seoul, an organization that supports teenage North Korean refugees through benefit concerts. She has played in masterclasses for Daniel Matsukawa, principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Whitney Crocket, principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, William Short, principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Eric Stromberg, Professor at Kansas University. She currently studies with Minho Lee.