A native of Minnesota, Dr. April Ryun Kim is currently Associate Professor of Practice in Music St. Olaf College where she teaches applied lessons, keyboard pedagogy, piano classes, and coaches chamber music. Having a passion for music education, she has been frequently invited as an adjudicator to various competitions including the Iowa Music Teachers National Association Piano (MTNA) Performance Competitions, the 2019 Minnesota MTNA Piano Performance Competition, and the Minnesota Music Teachers Association (MMTA) Preliminary Round Competitions. Additionally, she has taught at the St. Olaf Summer Music Academy, Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, the Arkansas and Oklahoma (AOK) Conservatory of Music, and the 2018 Coda Music Academy Summer Music Festival. 

Dr. Kim has given numerous performances as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician, showcasing a broad range of repertoire. She has been a featured guest artist with the St. Olaf Band, a soloist in the MasterWorks Festival Honors Recital, and with the St. Olaf Orchestra as senior soloist. Additionally, she has won winning prizes from competitions including Thursday Musical and Schubert Club. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed with artists Micah Wilkinson, principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Symphony, mezzo-soprano Katherine Rohrer, baritone Emery Stephens, percussionist Eri Isomura, and pianist William Chapman Nyaho. Furthermore, Dr. Kim performed in True Witness: A Civil Rights Cantata by composer Jodi Globe with the St. Olaf Cantorei directed by James Bobb, Manitou Singers directed by Theress Hibbard, and soloists Emery Stephens and Coraine Tate. 

As an advocate for new music, Dr. Kim regularly performs works by living composers. She has performed in the Musica Nova ensembles at the University Missouri - Kansas City, working with composers such as Zhou Long and Tania León, and the St. Olaf Faculty Chamber Ensemble featuring music by Ann Milikan. Additionally, she is a pianist in 10th Wave Chamber Collective, a new music chamber ensemble based in the Twin Cities featuring classical music by 20th and 21st century composers such as Missy Mazoli, David Lang, Jiyoun Chung, Kenji Bunch, and more. 

Dr. Kim has been invited to present and perform at conference and festival such as the regional and international conferences of the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Chapters Symposiums, the 2019 and 2022 International Music by Women Festival, the 3rd and 4th Composition in Asian Symposium and Festival, Minnesota Music Teachers Association Conventions, and the 2021 and 2023 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP). Furthermore, she directed and performed in the Inaugural Korean Composers Festival. 

Dr. Kim holds a DMA in Piano Performance from the University of Missouri - Kansas City, an MM in Solo and Collaborative Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a BM in Piano Performance with a Collaborative Emphasis from St. Olaf College. Her former teachers include Diane Helfers Petrella, Kathryn Brown, Anita Pontremoli, and Kent McWilliams.