Love in Music

Yerin Kim, OC ’10, and Brendan Shea, OC ’11, met as second-years. They met through Brendan’s roommate, Andrew, president of the Oberlin Korean Student Association, at an OKSA party early in the semester.

Yerin and Brendan were both in the Conservatory. Yerin graduated with a double-degree in Piano Performance and Psychology, while Brendan followed a year later, with a degree in Violin Performance and an Artists’ Diploma. They attended Indiana University Bloomington for their respective masters’ degrees and later earned their doctorates together at Stony Brook University.

In 2014, the pair formed what was known as the Shea-Kim Duo.

Still, their marriage and love for one another is far from strictly vocational. Though admittedly not the most romantic people themselves, they complement each other. From Oberlin to now, no matter their busy schedules, they’ve shared their life together.

First dates were characterized by ping-pong in South Hall, blowing bubbles in the quad for Yer- in’s birthday, and both pretending to be morning people to meet for breakfast in Dascomb Hall,

followed by practicing their instruments in the beautiful morning sun.

When one of Yerin’s professors in the Conservatory found out she was dating Brendan, she marched across the hall and knocked on his professor’s studio, demanding to know who Brendan was, to which his professor in turn questioned who exactly Yerin was.

The pair married at Oberlin, returning to the place where they both feel as if they grew up. Surround- ed by friends, family, and former professors, Fairchild Chapel made for an idyllic destination. Oberlin is in the deepest nuances of their relation- ship. Plus, they have a Ginko Gallery cat together now.