Seoul
Kim Rabenda was born in Cheonan, South Korea. She started playing the piano at the age of four, graduated from Chungnam Arts High School and pursued an undergraduate degree in classical piano at Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, under the mentorship of pianist Haejeon Lee. She subsequently moved to Germany to study with Roland Pröll in Dortmund before entering Folkwang University of the Arts Essen. At Folkwang, Rabenda studied piano with New Music experts Bernhard Wambach and Benjamin Kobler (Ensemble musikFabrik) and obtained postgraduate degrees both in professional performance of classical music (Konzertexamen) and in New Music. She received further inspiration through consultations with New Music pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Pi-Hsien Chen, Jean-Pierre Collot (ensemble recherche), Marino Formenti, Nicolas Hodges and Ueli Wiget (Ensemble Modern) as well as with classical pianists Karl Betz, Ilya Scheps, Josef Anton Scherrer and Nina Tichman. Kim participated in various workshops and festivals such as the Munich Academy of New Music, Ensemble Academy Freiburg, International Ensemble Modern Academy at Klangspuren-Festival Schwaz, International Summer Corurses for New Music Darmstadt, Stockhausen Concerts and Courses Kürten and Young Creative Korea in Seoul.
Kim Rabenda’s studies were supported by scholarships from DAAD, Kunststiftung NRW and Tongyeong International Music Foundation.
Rabenda’s great interest in contemporary music developed while studying with Bernhard Wambach in Essen, where she began her career as a concert pianist in 2011 with the performance of works for piano duo by John Cage and Steve Reich with Bernhard Wambach at Philharmonie Essen. In New Music, Kim Rabenda enjoys performing the essential works of the 20th century, ranging from Arnold Schönberg through to Pierre Boulez and John Cage, Isang Yun and Helmut Lachenmann. Early on she gained considerable expertise in the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen and, more recently, has been focusing on Olivier Messiaen. Kim especially loves working directly with living composers, and, among others, has worked with Roland Breitenfeld, Unsuk Chin, Peter Gahn, Younghi Pagh-Paan and Oliver Schneller as well as with many younger composers like Seongmin Ji, Heera Kim, Jungjik Kim, Sae-Ahm Kim and Sehyung Kim, for whom she regularly plays the world premieres of new works.
Kim was a member of the New Music ensembles ‘Ensembe CONSORD’ (Münster, Germany) and 'Seoul Modern Ensemble' (Seoul, Korea).
In 2018 Kim and music journalist Christian Rabenda launched ‘sämusic’, a platform for New Music projects and people aiming to present a seamless aesthetic-intellectual experience of New Music, its rich intellectual discourses and other arts and musics surrounding it. Starting in 2023 Kim Rabenda is the pianist of ‘Project Ensemble One’ (Seoul, Korea), an artist collective of composers and performers of New Music, which she helped launch.
Kim Rabenda has taught piano at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul and, in 2017, established 'Studio Rabenda' in Seoul – a space for professional music education including piano lessons and masterclasses as well as musical events such as house concerts.
As of 2023 Kim Rabenda is based in Seoul, South Korea, and regularly travels to Germany and Europe.
KIM RABENDA (pianist)’s playlists
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