Kimberley Blanchard

Kimberley Blanchard Kim has been teaching cello privately in the Seattle area since 2000 and has recently received pedagogy training in the Suzuki method studying under Barbara Wompner. She has been a coach with the Chamber Music Madness organization for several years, interning under Karen Iglitzen, former first violinist of the Philadelphia Quartet and nationally recognized chamber music teacher. Kim has been a member of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra for the past ten years. She has also made appearances with Bellevue Opera as Principal Cello, Lyric Opera NW, and Octava Chamber Orchestra. Kim moved to Seattle in 1996 after receiving her BFA from Alfred University in New York, and went on to receive her B of M in cello performance from Cornish College of the Arts in 2005 where she studied with Paige Stockley Lerner. Kim currently studies with Mr. Walter Gray of the Seattle Symphony.

While studying cello performance at Cornish, Kim discovered her interest in composition and was fortunate to study with Janice Giteck and Jarrad Powell. Kim finds ways to combine her visual art background with her music by collaborating with artists of various disciplines through performing and composing. Kim’s first project, Katrina is based on a young woman’s heroic experiences through a mythic world. She combines spoken word and film along with various non-traditional combinations of instruments. The Bainbridge Choral performed the world premier of “Quaking Aspens”, from Katrina, in May 2005. Also in the spring of 2005, the Saint Helens String Quartet performed the first movement of "String Quartet No. 1, Sunrise". In 2006 Kim composed the score for the short film, “R.E.X”, by her friend and collaborator, W. Jack Strain. The Northwest premier of "Overture to Home" was commissioned by the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony for their 20th Anniversary Gala Concert on May 18th, 2007. Kim was one of the first members of the youth orchestra over 20 years ago.