"I have played D'Addario strings since 1990. At the concert stage, recording studio, lecture hall, and classroom, D'Addario strings and products allow me to play consistently with a full palette of tone colors - and best serve my music, listeners, colleagues, and students."
Kim Perlak
Berklee College of Music
"EXP46 Coated Strings have longevity, enabling me to maintain my sound in concert and in my teaching in busy stretches. These strings allow me to play with all the musical parameters I love: timbre, dynamics, and articulation."
PRODUCTS Kim Perlak USES
ABOUT KIM PERLAK
With performances that express a breadth of tradition, guitarist Kim Perlak is recognized as an inspired voice in American music. Her playing was praised by The Austin-American Statesman as, "thoughtful, enchanting, vivid...a songwriter's circle without the lyrics," and by another Austin reviewer as, "moving...the most patriotic thing I've experienced in many months."
Kim's approach to the guitar includes new music, education, and public service. Her performances of classical works, original pieces, and collaborations with jazz and traditional players have been featured on National Public Radio, at the Peabody Institute Fretfest, and on five recordings. Her projects combining performance, American history, and educational outreach have been funded through grants from the Center for African American Southern Music and Yale Alumni Ventures. Kim's collaborative guitar work with American veterans in the concert project "Ben & I Play for Peace" was honored by the PBS program "From the Top" as part of their Arts Leadership series, and was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives. She serves on the board of the Guitar Foundation of America and the Boston Classical Guitar Society.
At Berklee College of Music, Kim served as Assistant Chair of Guitar for five years before becoming Chair of Guitar in September 2018. Her current artistic work includes improvisation, composition, and course development in a duo with slide guitarist, guitar professor David Tronzo. Kim authored the book Classical Technique for the Modern Guitarist, which was published by Berklee Press/Hal Leonard in 2016. She is the recipient of the 2016 and 2018 Berklee Chair Recording Grants. Kim serves on the advisory boards of the Music and Health Institute and the Career Center and is the director of Berklee Guitar Sessions.
Kim holds degrees from The University of Texas at Austin (DMA '08), Yale University School of Music (MM '01), and Stetson University (BM '98), and a certificate of completion from the Harvard University Management Development Program (2014).