Kim Perlak is the chair of the Guitar Department at Berklee College of Music, where she received the 2016 Berklee Chair Recording Grant. At Berklee, her artistic work to bridge styles includes collaborations with faculty composers, and in duo playing with master improviser and slide guitarist David Tronzo. Kim’s curriculum development for the department produced the book Classical Technique for the Modern Guitarist, which was published by Berklee Press/Hal Leonard in 2016.

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 (2013).

Kim’s versatile and inclusive approach to guitar embraces new composition, education, and public service. Her recording for solo guitar, Common Ground, features the new compositions of five American composers. Her work combining performance, American music history, and outreach has 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 US House of Representatives. Her playing has been praised by the Austin-American Statesman as, “thoughtful, enchanting, vivid.” 

Kim plays guitars by Thomas Humphrey and Kirk Sand and endorses D’Addario Strings. She currently serves on the board of the Boston Classical Guitar Society.