Miss Whe Do Kim, LPMC Founder 

Whe Do Kim, born in Korea, is a pianist and one of the preeminent teachers in Chicago. Ms. Kim is a founder and the director of the Lincoln Park Music Center in Chicago. 

She has been an active and inspirational teacher for the last 30 years.  Her students are very accomplished and have won many competitions; including Yamaha Competition, Society of American Musicians Competition, Young Keyboard Association's Competition, Steinway Competition, Chicago Symphony Concerto Competition, and Elgin Symphony Concerto Competition. Ms. Kim's students have performed in many festivals, recitals, and have been featured as soloists with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Elgin Symphony, North West Indiana Orchestra, and Mozarteum Orchestra.  

Her students have gone on to pursue studies at the Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria), New England Conservatory of Music (Boston), Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, Amherst College, University of Pennsylvania, USC, and many others.

Not only has Ms. Kim been working with young gifted children to express their musical talent, but her approach also nurtures their character development.  Her emphasis on her core values: Love, Peace, Mercy and Compassion or LPMC extends beyond the studio.  Her students use their musical gifts to reach out to others who need emotional and personal healing.  Over the past nine years, students have performed regularly at nursing homes to reach the elderly and those who have physical and mental challenges.  In addition, Miss Kim also encourages a sense of community by having the older students tutor the younger students, and by holding regular opportunities to perform with an orchestra, in smaller recitals and soiree settings.  

Ms. Kim is a graduate of the Seoul Music and Arts High School, the most prestigious music school in Korea. After winning the Grand Prix in the Pan-Korean National Music Competition and Best Accompanist Prize of the Korean National Musicians Association, she came to the United States in 1979 to study at the American Conservatory of Music.  There, Ms. Kim received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance working with Dr. William Brown and Denis Moffat. She continued her studies with Professor Ventsislav Yankoff (Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris) and was chosen to perform in Master classes given by world-renowned Professor Leon Fleisher and Arthur Balsam. She was the recipient of the American Conservatory of Music scholarship every year of her study there. She also won the coveted Grand Prix of the American Opera Society Competition, Farwell Award, and was a winner of the American Conservatory of Music's Commencement Concerto Competition, performing Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 1 and Prokofieff Concerto No. 3 under the direction of Steve Larsen. Ms. Kim has performed many recitals in the United States, Europe and Korea, and was also the featured soloist with the Seoul Music and Arts High School Orchestra for its North America Tour and performed at the Cultural Center under the direction of Maestro Won Sik Lim.

Lincoln Park Music Center (LPMC)

The Lincoln Park Music Center was established by Miss Whe Do Kim in 1985.  For over 30 years she has been nurturing the artistic talents of Chicago piano students.  The classical piano instruction usually starts at age 5 or 6 and continues for many students until they graduate from high school.

The rigorous LPMC approach emphasizes the importance of diligence and dedication to a goal.  Emphasis is placed on working towards performing opportunities at LPMC concerts, recitals and soirees.

While providing high quality piano instruction, the Lincoln Park Music Center amplifies a child’s character development with a multi-faceted program that includes performing with an orchestra in front of large audiences, performing with a duet partner, sharing musical talents at nursing homes, tutoring of younger students and traveling on educational excursions to Europe and other venues well known to Miss Kim.