Ty Kim

Ty has more than two decades of experience as a journalist working in network, cable and local television, film, radio and print.  For his work in television news, Ty earned six Los Angeles Emmys, the National Edward R. Murrow Award, nine Golden Mikes, and the Associated Press Award for California.  He honed his storytelling craft working closely for years with Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley at CBS News/60 Minutes where Ty specialized in hard news, investigative reporting.  He later served as managing editor for KPIX Television in San Francisco. He also launched and ran an investigative unit for KNBC in Los Angeles for four years as its founding executive producer.

Among Ty’s recent work includes a documentary about the renowned cellist Lynn Harrell and his 60-year journey through music.  The film includes fresh interviews with Oscar-winning composers John Williams and André Previn (his last filmed interview), virtuoso violinists Itzhak Perlman and Anne-Sophie Mutter, the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and others.  The film was invited to be shown at the Aronson Cello Festival at Southern Methodist University (SMU), The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, The Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University and other major venues.

In 2018, Ty directed and produced a series of short films about the life and students of Lev Aronson which premiered at the Sixth Aronson Cello Festival.  These short films profiled Christopher Adkins (principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Mitchell Maxwell (principal cellist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra), Brian Thornton (of the Cleveland Orchestra), the leading expert on Lev Aronson author Frances Brent, the two step-daughters of Lev Aronson (Joy Jamerson and Cheryl Surana), Victoria Bond, Dr. Melissa Kraut, and many other lifetime artists. 

For his work on behalf of The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF), Ty was a recipient of the Aronson “A” Award.  Ty serves as the organization’s inaugural board chairman. Some of his early accomplishments as Board Chair included recruiting the inaugural board and launching a series of fundraisers around the United States to build awareness of ACF, relaunching and helping redesign the ACF website and creating a new slate of programming for the upcoming festival.

Ty’s pro bono work on behalf of the organization includes directing and producing original short films about major classical music artists.  His most recent film which profiles the renowned cellist Ben Hong will premiere at the next Aronson Cello Festival in June of 2020. Ty’s continuing work also includes launching two new short film series: “Women and Classical Music” as well as an ongoing series entitled “The Greatest Cellists” which will kick-off with a short film about Emanuel Feuermann.

Ty is a member of the national advisory council for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.   He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and runs a private consulting practice that specializes in branding, entrepreneurial marketing and media consulting.  His pro bono work also includes running “The Andrew B. Kim and Wan Kyun Rha Kim Family Foundation, Inc.” which supports the arts and education on a national level.