Traveling and playing for national and international audiences, Ames native Angela Kim is known as a piano virtuoso whose talent and energy has no limitations.

“I wake up early every morning and practice,” Kim said. “I travel all over the world.”

“My life revolves around playing the piano,” she continued. “It is kind of like preparing for the Olympics. That’s the closest thing I could compare it to.”

Under the guidance of her mother, Kim first learned how to play the piano when she was four years old.

Her father, a former Iowa State University mathematics professor who died almost ten years ago, was also very supportive.

“My father loved music very much,” Kim said. “He would always dance when I played or cry when the music was beautiful.”

During her 20-year career, Kim has played numerous solo recitals and has won many awards.

“There is a lot of mental preparation involved. A lot of pressure that I have to overcome,” Kim said. “It has made me disciplined and prevalent. I dedicate my life to playing the piano.”

At six years of age, Kim played at the Iowa Music Teachers Association convention at Drake.

At 10, she impressed the attendees of the Chicagoland Suzuki Music Festival with her dazzling talent.

Concentrating on the future, Kim is exploring some ideas of what she would like to do.

“The future is very uncertain. I just have to take it day by day,” Kim said.

“I’m going to Berlin in November and will be spending more time in Europe. After that, I don’t really know,” she said.

One thing Kim would like to do is share her love of making music with other people.

“I’m very fortunate I get to do what I love and make a living at it,” Kim said.

Kim is pursuing a career in music and would like to become a professor, teaching piano to other people.

“I would also like to teach my students the things that music has taught me — like never taking anything for granted and preserving despite impossible odds,” Kim said.

Kim will be playing material by such classical pianists as Bach, Beethoven, Lisvt, Chopin and Debussy tonight at the Ames City Auditorium.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $4 for students and senior citizens and $8 general admission.

Tickets are available at Rieman Music, Main Street Music and at the Ames City Auditorium.