Biography
Violinist and composer Pauline Kim Harris, born Pauline Kim in New York on June 16, 1973, has centered her work on contemporary and avant-garde repertoire while forging international ties to prominent new-music ensembles and introducing numerous fresh compositions. She frequently joins forces with musicians rooted in progressive rock and favors unconventional performance spaces.
Married to violinist Conrad Harris, she appears alongside him in the classical-avant-punk string duo String Noise. Recognized early as a prodigy, she became the youngest musician admitted to Jascha Heifetz’s violin studio and took part in his concluding master class. At age fifteen she entered the Juilliard School, studying there with Dorothy DeLay. Pop sessions marked her initial professional steps, beginning with a contribution to Lisa Loeb’s 1997 album Firecracker; at times she has recorded under the initials PK.
Her engagements have spanned venues across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, both as soloist and as music director for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Although her command of styles ranges from the traditional canon to recent works, projects in the 2010s and 2020s have tilted steadily toward the experimental. A pivotal moment arrived in 2012 when she taped John Zorn’s Passagen for the Tzadik release John Zorn: Lemma, issued the following year; the recording prompted a sequence of duo realizations with choreographer Pam Tanowitz that reached Lincoln Center Out of Doors in New York and the Chicago Dance Company. She also joined Alchemy String Quartet performances during the Zorn@60 series in London, Ghent, and additional cities.
Harris has given first performances of pieces by Alvin Lucier, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and other major figures, appeared as guest with Ensemble Signal, Alarm Will Sound, and Talea, and toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In New York’s avant-garde circles she has belonged to the S.E.M. Ensemble, OBSq, and the Wordless Music Orchestra, and she has performed with Ostravska Banda in the Czech Republic. More than sixty recording credits—classical and pop alike—reflect her work with mainstream artists such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Adele, and Peter Gabriel, as well as forward-looking collaborators including Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Björk, and Greg Saunier of Deerhoof.
On the Sono Luminus label she has released several solo albums, among them the 2021 set Wild at Heart, which gathers pieces inspired by the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin, BWV 1004.
Married to violinist Conrad Harris, she appears alongside him in the classical-avant-punk string duo String Noise. Recognized early as a prodigy, she became the youngest musician admitted to Jascha Heifetz’s violin studio and took part in his concluding master class. At age fifteen she entered the Juilliard School, studying there with Dorothy DeLay. Pop sessions marked her initial professional steps, beginning with a contribution to Lisa Loeb’s 1997 album Firecracker; at times she has recorded under the initials PK.
Her engagements have spanned venues across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, both as soloist and as music director for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Although her command of styles ranges from the traditional canon to recent works, projects in the 2010s and 2020s have tilted steadily toward the experimental. A pivotal moment arrived in 2012 when she taped John Zorn’s Passagen for the Tzadik release John Zorn: Lemma, issued the following year; the recording prompted a sequence of duo realizations with choreographer Pam Tanowitz that reached Lincoln Center Out of Doors in New York and the Chicago Dance Company. She also joined Alchemy String Quartet performances during the Zorn@60 series in London, Ghent, and additional cities.
Harris has given first performances of pieces by Alvin Lucier, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and other major figures, appeared as guest with Ensemble Signal, Alarm Will Sound, and Talea, and toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In New York’s avant-garde circles she has belonged to the S.E.M. Ensemble, OBSq, and the Wordless Music Orchestra, and she has performed with Ostravska Banda in the Czech Republic. More than sixty recording credits—classical and pop alike—reflect her work with mainstream artists such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Adele, and Peter Gabriel, as well as forward-looking collaborators including Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Björk, and Greg Saunier of Deerhoof.
On the Sono Luminus label she has released several solo albums, among them the 2021 set Wild at Heart, which gathers pieces inspired by the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin, BWV 1004.
Albums
