Nahyun Kim creates compositions that explore experimental concepts, guiding listeners toward new and revelatory sonic experiences. Her music comes alive with vivid color, distinctive timbres, and beautifully nuanced textures drawn from an atonal and post-tonal palette. Passionate about research and discovery, her work is profoundly influenced by the relationship between cognitive science, psychology, and the sense of unity fostered through shared musical experience.

Her works have been presented and recognized at conferences, festivals, competitions, and residencies throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States, including events in Slovenia, Finland, Austria, Poland, Greece, Spain, Ukraine, Italy, China, France, and South Korea. She has collaborated with ensembles and soloists including Irvine Arditti, Redi Llupa, Jonathan Levin, Jenny Lin, Transient Canvas, newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, MIVOS Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Ricochet Ensemble, Bruson Quartet, The Sylvanus Ensemble, and the American Brass Quintet, among others. She is a recipient of the ASCAP Plus Award in the concert music category, and her music has received additional awards and competition prizes resulting in performances at the Kaleidoscope MusArt Concert in Miami, the Abundant Silence New Works Concert in Denver, the PUBLIQ Access Showcase Concert in New York City, and the Kiev New Music Festival. As a resident composer for the precept.concept.percept XIV International Residency (2025–2026), she developed Tactical Empathy, which received its world premiere at Bled Contemporary Music Week in Slovenia in June 2026. She has also been featured as a guest artist on 91.9 Classical KC’s Sound Currents and KKFI Kansas City Community Radio 90.1 FM’s The Classical Challenge. Her piano work Hypochondriasis is published by Abundant Silence.

As a scholar and theorist, Dr. Kim has presented research at the Scholarly Symposium of the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, the La Frontera International Piano Conference in Brownsville, the Orient/Occident Composer’s Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities. She is currently a selected composer for the Nice International Music Festival and Academy (NIMA 2026) Ciné-Concert, developing a new work for silent film that will be premiered by Ensemble Mêtis in Nice, France, in November 2026. She is also continuing work on GUMIHO, a two-act opera inspired by Korean folklore and intercultural collaboration.

In addition to her creative work, Dr. Kim has nearly two decades of experience teaching a wide range of collegiate music courses, including music theory, composition, musicianship, songwriting, world music, music appreciation, and piano. She has taught at institutions such as the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory, Stony Brook University, Kansas City Kansas Community College, and Hawkeye Community College. Her teaching has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Students’ Choice Teaching Excellence Award at Hawkeye Community College and the TEACH Award (Teaching Excellence and Colleague Honor) at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Dr. Kim earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Her primary teachers include Chen Yi, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, and Sheila Silver, with additional masterclasses and studies with Chaya Czernowin, Toshio Hosokawa, Stefano Gervasoni, Akira Nishimura, Stephen Hartke, Paul Lansky, and Ezra Laderman.