Kim Hong-jae
Korean musician
Kim Hong-jae (김홍재; born October 10, 1954) is a Zainichi Korean conductor.
Early life
His first experience with music at an early age was on an upright piano at his mother's maiden home. In 1967, he entered Amagasaki Korean Middle School and studied clarinet in the school band. He also studied improved Korean folk instruments sent from North Korea. In 1969, the School Band of Amagasaki Korean Middle School won the grand prize of 'Competition of Korean Students Resident in Japan' under his direction.
In 1973, Kim entered the Toho Gakuen School of Music as one of the first Korean nationals. He changed his clarinet major to conducting and studies under Ken Takaseki and Naoto Otomo in 1975. Before his graduation in 1977, he attended the classes of, among others, Seiji Ozawa, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Tadashi Mori and Shunsaku Tsutsumi. Upon Tsutsumi's recommendation, he was appointed as resident conductor of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra while he was studying at Toho. In 1977, he conducted the Toho Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa on the podium at Toho Gakuen's graduation concert.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kim Hong-jae” is korean musician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hong-jae, Korean and musician, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “korean musician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q625329. VIAF identifies the subject as 68291338. The Library of Congress control number is n2002074606. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 1967, 1969 and 1973.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Kim Hong-jae” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.