Born in South Korea and raised in Hawaii, Young Kim was exposed to music at an early age. Starting the violin at four and piano at six, he still went onto study the trumpet and the flute before finally settling on the French horn.
Since then, the horn has taken him all over the world from the Sydney Opera House to KKL Luzern in Switzerland. After earning his bachelor's degree from Boston University and master's from Rice University, Young won his first audition for the fourth horn position in the Sarasota Orchestra (FL). Subsequently he held positions in Central City Opera (CO), Colorado Ballet, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
He has also performed as a guest principal horn in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra while also appearing as a guest musician with the Colorado, Colorado Springs, Detroit, Houston, Minnesota, Memphis, Naples, Omaha, San Antonio, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras as well as going on a Canadian national tour with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Summer of 2016 marked a special occasion as he got to perform for the first time in his home country with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and in June 2024, Young joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on their European tour.
A passionate educator, Young started creating educational content for the Korean horn community in early 2019. These contents, marked #HornTip (#호른팁), are essays, translations of pedagogy materials, and YouTube videos that discuss a wide range of topics. Efforts continue not only to provide new contents but also to make English translations and subtitles for a global audience.
In 2023, Young moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota to join his wife, a violinist in the Minnesota Orchestra, and is enjoying a diverse career in both performance and education.