Jaeyoon Kim – 1st Prize with Special Mention, Composition
Jaeyoon Kim is a 16-year-old pianist and composer currently studying under the guidance of Kelly Nam at George Mason University. He has acquired musical knowledge and experience by participating in various programs, such as the NYU Summer Institute of Music Technology (June 2023). Additionally, he served as the Chief Producer for the TJHSST Class Song Group 2026 (August 2023), has been dedicating himself to piano performances at the Tacy Foundation since 2022, and has been working as a Co-Founder in Harmelody, a music tech content creation team, since July 2023.
Playing the piano since the age of 4, he has won numerous piano competitions in South Korea, where he was raised. Despite having an entirely classical background in music, he discovered a stronger passion for contemporary music. Starting to produce electronic music at the age of 11, his continuous attempts to compose various genres have come a long way, ranging from hip-hop, funk house, dubstep, future bass, and finally returning to classical.
Greatly inspired by film soundtrack composers such as Hans Zimmer and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kim’s compositions encompass a cinematic and orchestral nature, with occasional cameo appearances of electronic features. Jaeyoon’s compositions have been recognized in multiple competitions, including 3rd place in the National PTA Reflections Competition 2022/2023, 2nd place in the NVMTA Composition Competition 2023, 1st with honor in the IYMC 2023, 1st place ($150) in the 11th Annual Youth Music Composition Competition, and 2nd place ($700) in the 2023 Machang Film Music Composition Competition. Furthermore, he is eager and confident about achieving his musical goals in the future. His previous works are available on Soundcloud under the username ‘pororoororoq’.