Ella Kim, 16 years old, is from Herndon, Virginia, and attends Oakton High School. She currently studies piano with Professor HieYon Choi and Yang Gao at Peabody Conservatory. Ella started playing the piano when she was four years old. Ever since, she has won numerous awards including first prize alternate at the 2022 Virginia MTNA Competition, first prize at the Charleston International Music Competition, and the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition.More recently, Ella won second prize at the 2024 David Dubois International Piano Competition and the AAMS International Music Competition. 

In 2019, Ella appeared on NPR’s From the Top Show as part of an eight-hand ensemble and was invited back to be featured as a soloist, and to perform in their Facebook live concert series. In 2023, Ella performed for WETA Classical’s Annual Leadership Circle event at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, and was invited to perform at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Alliance. Ella has performed at the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Embassy of Austria, Embassy of Hungary, the National Institute of Health, and the US State Department.

Over the summer, Ella participated in the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artist Piano Program, where she engaged in a unique collaboration with dancers from the New York Theatre Ballet, merging music and movement. She also performed in a masterclass led by the acclaimed concert pianist Conrad Tao. Subsequently, Ella traveled to San Francisco for Bay PianoFest, where she played in a masterclass with renowned pianist Alvin Chow.

Fueled by her passion for connecting with others through music, Ella and her sister co-founded a non-profit called ITZArt4you, which enables teen musicians to harness their musical talents by providing free, weekly music lessons to children in their community. 

Outside of music, Ella serves as a student representative to the Fairfax County School Board Student Advisory Council and is the founder of ITZArt4Oakton, a club that provides a space for fellow teen musicians to share music with the Oakton community. Ella enjoys reading, K-pop, traveling and trying new foods, and is a black belt in Taekwondo.