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The Korean choral conductor, Bomi Kim, loved music since she was young and started learning piano in elementary school. When she was in middle school, she showed such outstanding skills that she could accompany the church choir. She had dreams of becoming a musician, but due to her parents' opposition, she entered Sejong University. She entered the Department of Hotel Management. Nevertheless, she could not let go of music and was active in group sound while attending Sejong University. After completing her first year, she said, “I think I have to do music now.” The following year, she boldly dropped out of Sejong University, entered the Department of Church Music at Yonsei University College of Music, and graduated after passionately learning the discipline of music she had longed for. She then studied abroad at the Regensburg University of Church Music in Germany. Afterwards, she moved to Vienna and graduated with the highest honors in church music from the Vienna University of Music. She also met Erwin Ortner of the Vienna University of Music, one of the world's most renowned contemporary classical musicians. She was a student loved by her professor. While attending the Vienna University of Music, she served as assistant conductor of the Arnold Schoenberg Chor (2007), where Professor Erwin Ortner was the principal conductor, and performed with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, and Mariss Jansons. Experiences such as performing on stage with modern conducting masters such as Daniel Harding she built up little by little.
Then one day, Professor Erwin Ortner suggested, " The position of conductor of the Wiener Sängerknaben is currently vacant, so why not audition?" and he began to worry. This is because Austrians are very conservative. In addition, the Wiener Sängerknaben has a history of over 500 years, but there has never been a single female conductor during its long history. Still, with the determination to take on the challenge, Bomi Kim applied for the position of permanent conductor of the Wiener Sängerknaben, and after a thorough audition lasting 3 days and 2 nights, she defeated numerous competitors and was appointed as the permanent conductor of the Mozart Tour Group (September 2012-February 2016), one of the 4 classes of the Wiener Sängerknaben.
As the first female conductor in the 500-year history of the Wiener Sängerknaben, Bomi Kim toured the world with her Mozart Tour Group and performed more than 100 concerts a year and gave concerts at world-renowned venues, including New York Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, Vienna Golden Hall, and Berlin Concert House. She also visited Korea with her own class in 2014, performing twice at the Music Hall of the Seoul Arts Center . She performed at the Aram Music Hall in Aram Nuri, Goyang. In 2013, she received the "Ortner Preis", given to Austria's best choral conductor.
Bomi Kim returned to Korea after voluntarily resigning from his position as permanent conductor of the Vienna Boys Choir, where she had worked for four years. After returning to Korea, she built his career by guest conducting numerous professional choirs, including Bucheon City Choir, Wonju City Choir, Ansan City Choir, Paju City Choir, Suwon City Chorale, Gangneung City Choir, and Seongnam City Choir. Since January 2016, she has been working as a professor in the Department of Church Music at his alma mater, Yonsei University College of Music, where she is working to nurture younger students. In March 2018, she was appointed as the permanent conductor of the World Vision Choir (since March 2018), Korea's first children's choir with over 60 years of history, and was appointed Artistic Director in 2024. In January 2025, she was inaugurated as the 6th Artistic Director and permanent conductor of the Suwon City Chorale.
In addition, Bomi Kim is contributing to the development of Korean choral music by holding many positions, including Music Director of Ensemble The Singers, conductor of Ensemble Choruscum, director of the National Choir, director of the Korea Choral Directors Association (KCDA), and director of the Korean Society of Church Music. She is called the mother church of Korea. She is serving as the conductor of the Saerepim Praise Choir at Saemoonan Church, the first organized church in Korea. |
