Leland
Ko,
cellist
https://www.lelandko.com/about
Cellist Leland Philip Ko (b. 1998) is the kind of
person who is always asking “why” — American-born but of
Chinese-Canadian descent, schooled at both university and
conservatory, and extremely thorough in any number of activities
ranging from competitive tennis and distance-running to home-baking
and origami, he wants to find the similarities between seemingly
disparate things, and in doing so hopefully find something human in
everything. Above all, Leland does his best to remember advice once
given to him that music is about life, not the other way around.
Described as someone with “Disarming charisma” (South
Florida Classical Review) yet simultaneously as someone
“Byronic” and “excelling in both poetic longing and dramatic
outbursts” (Boston Classical Review), Leland has
performed as a soloist and chamber musician in venues across America
and abroad, from Carnegie Hall in New York and Symphony Hall in
Boston to the Maison Symphonique in Montréal; and internationally in
Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Israel, Spain, Korea, and Hong Kong. He is
a first prize winner of the Concours Orchestre Symphonique de
Montréal, the Concert Artists Guild Louis and Susan Meisel
Competition, and the Walter W. Naumburg International Cello
Competition.
Highlights for Leland’s 2025-2026 season include
appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke and the
DuPage Symphony; recitals at the Foundation for Chinese Performing
Arts, Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, Pro Musica San Miguel
de Allende, Pepperdine University, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital
Hall; and chamber music for the Caramoor Center for Music and the
Arts, the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall, Palm Beach State College,
and Chico Performances. Past engagements over the last decade have
included concerto appearances with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra,
the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Princeton University Orchestra,
the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and multiple appearances with the
Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the New England Conservatory
Philharmonia, Symphony Pro Musica, the Apollo Ensemble of Boston,
and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
Despite growing up a part of Boston’s strong youth
orchestra culture, Leland has sought out chamber music throughout
his life, having partaken at ChamberFest West, Methow Valley Chamber
Music Festival, Meetinghouse Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music
Society, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Yellowbarn, Ravinia's
Steans Music Institute, Four Seasons Chamber Music Workshop, and the
Perlman Music Program’s Summer Music School and its Chamber Music
Workshop. Leland’s love for chamber music has also led him to be a
former Artist in Residence of New York Piano Society (NYPS), and
former Music Director of Opus 21, a student-run chamber music
collective at Princeton. He is the cellist of Trio Rai, the OAK
Trio, the Phaidros Quartet, and also a frequent member of Sejong
Soloists.
Leland was a long-time student of Kirsten Peltz,
Ronald Lowry, and Paul Katz before attending Princeton University,
where he graduated with an A.B. in German Literature. He went on to
complete an M.M. at The Juilliard School under the teaching of
Minhye Clara Kim, Timothy Eddy, and Natasha Brofsky, and then earned
an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory under guidance
of Laurence Lesser, Yeesun Kim, and Donald Weilerstein. Leland
performs on a cello by Giovanni Battista Rugeri, Cremona, c. 1710,
ex-Denis Vigay, which is on generous loan to him from Canimex Inc.;
and professional development activities for Leland are generously
supported by Marilyn G. and Joseph B. Schwartz. He resides in
Boston, with his 13-year-old cat, Ham.
Adria Ye,
pianist
Chinese-American
pianist Adria Ye has been driven from a young age by a hopeless
fascination with music. Described by cellist David Finckel as having
a “naturally beautiful sound and lyric instinct,” she made her
orchestral debut at nine with the Oregon Sinfonietta, and has since
performed as soloist and chamber musician across Europe, China, and
the United States. She has been featured in radio broadcasts of
“Performance Today” with Fred Child, and National Public Radio’s
“From the Top.” Most recently, she was the recipient of the Paul
Streit Special Prize at the 2022 Concours de Genéve, and was the
winner of the 2022 Music Academy of the West Solo Piano Competition.
An avid chamber musician, Adria has also participated in and
performed at festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute,
Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival’s Spring Workshop, the Innsbrook
Institute, and the David Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio at the
Aspen Music Festival and School. She frequently collaborates with
and performs with cellist Leland Ko.
Adria earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the
Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin, and a
Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory with Wha-Kyung Byun.
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