Dustin Wilkes-Kim

Dustin Wilkes-Kim, from Winston-Salem North Carolina, was previously a first violinist and acting assistant concertmaster with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and extensively with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. 

Wilkes-Kim attended high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where early and consistent exposure to chamber and orchestral study alongside private instruction was formative. There, he studied privately with Sarah Johnson, orchestra with John Mauceri, Ransom Wilson and Jamie Allbritten and chamber music with Christina Placilla and Sheila Brown. In his freshman year, Wilkes-Kim took second place in Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra's Youth Concerto Competition. In his sophomore year, Wilkes-Kim won the Southeast region of the MTNA competition, and, in his junior year, his quartet Jia became semi-finalists in the Fischoff Competition. 

Wilkes-Kim has a bachelor’s degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University with private instruction from Amy Schwartz Moretti, Robert McDuffie, David Halen, and David Kim. There, he had the privilege of performing alongside Edward Aaron, Annie Fullard, Larry Dutton, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Robert McDuffie and Paul Watkins. He received chamber music coaching from Annie Fullard of the Cavani Quartet and Larry Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet. Wilkes-Kim also performed in the Rome Chamber Music Festival as part of his studies. 

Wilkes-Kim holds a master’s degree from Yale School of Music under Syoko Aki and Peter Oundjian who he has also worked with extensively in recent summers at the Colorado Music Festival.  

Wilkes-Kim has participated in numerous music festivals and programs, including the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with Paul Kantor; Madeline Island Chamber Music, where he was coached by members of the Dover String Quartet and the American String Quartet; Dali Quartet International Music Festival with Domenic Salerni, Adriana Linares and Carlos Rubio; Encore Chamber Music Institute with Annie Fullard and JinJoo Cho; the New York String Orchestra Seminar with Jamie Laredo and Michael Tree; and the Meadowmount School of Music under Jan Mark Sloman and Patricia McCarty.