EIU Department of Music

Symphonic Honors Initiative Program

The Symphonic Honors Initiative Program (SHIP) is an outreach program designed to provide orchestral experience for the exceptionally talented high school and middle school string players primarily in Coles County in addition to the surrounding counties. By providing these students an opporunity to perform with the Eastern Symphony Orchestra, your child may gain professional orchestral experience to prepare them for future orchestral opportunities and the over-all college orchestral experience.

SHIP student participate in the ESO orchestral rehearsals on Tuesday from 5:00-5:50pm. SHIP also meets at 6:00 pm on Wednesday evenings immediately before the 7:00 pm ESO rehearsal; at 7:00 pm they combine in a full rehearsal. The Symphonic Honors Students will be finished with rehearsals no later then 9 PM (with the exception of dress rehearsals which will be from 7-10PM).  

If you would like your child to participate and would like to be considered for the program please feel free to contact me. Thank you for supporting and having such an invested interest in the artistic growth of your child!

• Online Application Form

SHIP Teachers 

Dr. Ji-Myung Kim - Upper Strings:

Violinist Ji Myung Kim has been internationally recognized as an artist of true versatility. A native of South Korea, Kim came to the US when he was fourteen years old to study violin under C.J. Chang and Robert de Pasquale in Philadelphia. Ever since then Kim's virtuosity has dazzled his audiences around the world including the Queen of Denmark, the prime minister of Japan, and two former Presidents of South Korea. Career highlights include the critically acclaimed NYC debut in Lincoln Center performing and premiering his own cadenzas to Mozart's fifth violin concerto with the New York Classical Symphony Orchestra, as well as performing with Classical Note Philharmonic for the General Counsels of United Nations headquarter in New York. 

Currently, Ji Myung Kim is the Instructor of Violin and Viola at Eastern Illinois University’s Department of Music and is an artist of Leo Management in New York. Prior to his appointment, Kim has served as a faculty at Western Kentucky University and New York School of Music and Art. As a guest artist and clinician, Kim has been invited to SUNY Fredonia, Boston University, Western Michigan, Southeast Missouri State, Murray State, Grand Valley State, and Western Illinois University to hold master classes/recitals as well as music appreciation lecture. Since 2015, Kim has also been serving as an adjudicator for the New York International Artists Competition and the East Coast International Competition and became the recipient of 2017 Grace Meng U.S. Congress Award for his excellence in the field of Music and Art in the New York region. Kim's pedagogical expertise has been proven through his students' successes including first prizes in New York International Music Concour, National Artists Competition, as well as Northern New Jersey Orchestra, Manhattan Pre-college, and New York Youth Orchestra auditions. 

As an avid chamber musician, Kim has collaborated with artists such as violinist Pamela Frank, violist Atar Arad, cellist Peter Wiley, jazz bassist Chuck Israel, as well as with the members of Tokyo, Orion, and Verona quartets. After being appointed by the government of South Korea to serve as the ensemble leader of Presidential House “Chungwadae” Art Concert Series for 2 years (2007-2009), Kim was invited to Japan to participate in “Complete Haydn String Quartets” Project with D’Amici String Quartet. Kim has also appeared as the concertmaster for the New York Symphony Orchestra and K-Radio Philharmonic and was an active member of the acclaimed New York Classical Players (NYCP). After his move to Illinois, Kim has been serving as the concertmaster of Heartland Festival Orchestra (www.heartlandfestivalorchestra.org) in Peoria, as well as Daejeon Sinfonietta in Korea.

Kim is the founder and the leader of Ensemble D'Amici, debuted onto the international music scene back in 2019 with concert engagements in San Francisco, CA, Knoxville, TN, Bowling Green, KY, Decatur, IL,  as well as in Seoul and Daejeon in Korea. In the summer of 2022, Ensemble D’Amici was invited to perform in Sejong, Ulsan, and the prestigious GMC (Gumnanse Music Center) in Busan, Korea. The ensemble is preparing its third season of US-Korea tour with invitation to perform at the 23rd Daejeon International Music Festival in the summer of 2023.

Kim received his BM, MM, and DM in violin performance from Indiana University Bloomington’s Jacobs School of Music. He plays on a 2007 Pierre Dalphin made in Geneva, Switzerland.

Visit www.kimjimyung.com for more information.