YunJin Audrey Kim had Two Tickets to Paradise

   The music talent that walks among us in Rochester is immense, especially with an internationally ranked and beloved music school like Eastman School of Music.

   That was the lure to Rochester for Korean-born and Virginia-raised Yunjin Audrey Kim, who earned a master’s degree in vocal performance and literature from Eastman.

   Falling in love with Rochester she has stayed here, working every day as a professional musician.

   “I am making my living doing music and I’m a little proud of myself,” Kim said, sheepishly smiling. “I’m a poor, starving musician just trying to live a fabulous life.”

SHE’S MONEY

   For her talents, she was tapped to be the music and vocal director for a world premiere musical being launched in Rochester in February — Two Tickets to Paradise: The Eddie Money Musical.

   The new musical is based on the life and music of Grammy-nominated rock star Eddie Money, who wrote the musical and also will star in every Rochester performance (Feb. 14-18) at Kodak Center.

   Also serving as the production’s music editor, she is helping with the new songs created for the show. She also is marrying Money’s big hits with the new songs, stringing them together for the production, including creating music for scene changes, as well as vamps, and underscoring.

   It’s like an open book,” Kim said. “It’s a musical and music has to happen all the time. Pieces of many of the songs will return throughout the score and I’ll be choosing the instruments. It’s very exciting!”

   At night she sketches it out, looking at the recurring themes and figuring out how to make Eddie Money’s music, which most often are solo songs, into ensemble numbers.

   “I feel so very honored,” Kim said. “Somehow he trusts this will happen. But he doesn’t need to worry about it. I’ll make it work!”

   Two Tickets to Paradise is being produced by Rochester Association for Performing Arts (RAPA), a performing and educational theater organization, for which she serves as the chair of the Music Department.

WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS …

   Kim’s full-time work in music also involves private voice and piano lessons in her Corn Hill studio, accompanying choruses for Pittsford Central School District, and serving as music director of First United Methodist Church in Geneva.

   Of her Eastman class of 2012, when asked how many of her classmates are working full-time as musicians, she estimates about 20 percent.

   “Some are singing in professional operas, yes, but they all have daytime jobs not in the music field,” Kim said. “It is fabulous I work in a field where I get to create.

   “A lot of the music is provided, but it’s my job to make it come alive and to bring the music out of people, although sometimes not always the same as the composer’s intention,” she said, laughing heartily.

   Her students and casts thank her pushing them to reach their potential in delivering a song. The recent cast of The Hunchback of Notre Dame called her a “beautiful nightmare,” when thanking her for pushing their voices.

   As a trained singer, she’s often asked by those she is vocal coaching why she is not singing center stage these days.

   “I tell them because I like waving my arms better and let you do all the work,” she said, laughing again.

   “I love singing and yet hate singing,” Kim said. “It’s a lifestyle, you have to stay healthy all the time and you have to exude extreme confidence.”

CONDUCTING HERSELF PROFESSIONALLY

   While working as an accompanist, she was able to watch the directors and conductors at work, and she said that helped shape her into the musician she is today.

   Watching Kim energetically and happily conduct an orchestra is often as exciting than what is on stage.

   “It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “The best thing I hear from my pit members is I was really fun to work with and they really loved playing with me. That is the best thing.”

   When asked about her life beyond music, she smirked and replied, “I don’t have one.” In truth, she spends downtime with her many theater and music friends. Her parents reside in Virginia and her brother, a professional model and actor, lives in Korea.

   Kim came to the United States at age 15. She has recorded songs in Korean that are popular on iTunes.

   She has been playing piano since the age of five and her soprano voice has filled Carnegie Hall, as well as many other prestigious houses. In 2013, the same year she made her Carnegie Hall debut, Kim was featured on the album “A Thousand Burnt Offerings,” which was released in South Korea, and sang again on an album for the series in 2016.

   Kim has deep connections in Korea through her music and she has performed there.

   And while she may someday follow an opportunity or adventure beyond Rochester, this city still remains her home.

   “Rochester is an amazing city, especially for musicians,” Kim said. “Yes, maybe you’re a small fish in a big pond, but it’s a big pond, with a lot of opportunity. Somehow I constantly get jobs coming at me, and I feel very, very grateful.”