Kym Purling is a world renowned pianist, entertainer, composer, conductor, producer, educator and humanitarian born in Vietnam, adopted and raised in Australia and lives in New York City.
Biography
Australian Kym Purling was found abandoned at the age of two or three days to unknown parents during the Vietnam War. After spending the first months of his life in two orphanages, he soon became one of the very first international adoptions of any nationality in Australia. Purling discovered the piano at the age of five when he would mimic the songs his adoptive sister would practice by ear. He commenced formal classical piano training at the age of six and continued to teach himself many other styles of music during his schooling years. He received his high school education at Westminster School, a private school in Adelaide, South Australia. He later completed a Bachelor of Music in jazz Studies at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, where he formed the first Kym Purling Trio with bassist Tim Bowen and drummer Ben Riley. The trio received wide recognition all around Australia and also served as the rhythm section for many of Australia's leading jazz musicians and vocalists. During this time, still in his early twenties, Purling performed over 250 gigs a year and also performed for the Dalai Lama. During the mid 90s, he also recorded his first albums, Trio Juice, Catherine Lambert & The Kym Purling Trio, and Let's Swing! In 1996, Purling served as an Ambassador for the Performing Arts between Australia and Vietnam. This was Purling's first return to his homeland since his adoption to Australia. During Purling's ambassadorship, he held sold-out concerts in concerts halls around Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, introducing jazz music to the Vietnamese people. During the residency, Purling also taught many children, students and professional musicians and made recordings for educational purposes. He featured in many newspaper articles and radio interviews during the time he spent in Vietnam. His work in Vietnam crossed many cultural and language barriers, proving that music is the universal language. He did not anyone or know any of the Vietnamese language before arriving there. Purling then returned to Australia and later moved to the United States where he resided and worked in New York City, Los Angeles, Florida and Las Vegas where he started his second Kym Purling Trio. As a jazz pianist, entertainer, composer, conductor, arranger and educator, Purling has performed and traveled to over 135 countries. He has opened concerts for Julio Iglesias, Harry Connick Jr., Sandra Bernhard, James Morrison, Ray Brown, and Arturo Sandoval and has performed with the Mills Brothers, Buddy Greco, Kay Starr, Clint Holmes, David Cassidy, Natalie Cole and with many other famous musicians, vocalists and entertainers. In New York City, Purling worked as a musical director and conductor of touring Broadway shows and spent the next five years traveling around the U.S., Canada, and Japan, with Broadway shows Footloose, 42nd Street, and Miss Saigon. Purling later relocated to Florida and formed another Kym Purling Trio with bassist Alejandro Arenas and drummer Mark Feinman. During this time he engaged in much television work, making a US national appearance with Natalie Cole. He was later appointed as musical director, conductor and pianist for vocal legend, Engelbert Humperdinck. With Humperdinck and his band, Purling conducted and performed in many of the world's most prestigious concert halls and largest outdoor arenas around the world. The following months saw a move to Los Angeles where he resided for a short time. Purling performed regularly in Beverley Hills and engaged in playing on television commercials while in Los Angeles. Purling's love for worldwide travel then led him to start making appearances as a headline entertainer on luxury high end cruise linesall over the world which he continues to do today. Traveling with guest status on the world's best cruise liners, Purling performs one or two shows during the week on board, entertaining the cruise guests in theaters with capacities of 1250 and beyond. Purling is also a humanitarian and performs concerts worldwide to support and aid orphans and children in Vietnam, Nepal and other developing countries. In May 2015 in St. Petersburg, Florida, he raised money for the victims of the earthquakes in Nepal.
