Leland Ko
cello
Cellist Leland Philip Ko, an American artist of Chinese-Canadian descent, is the Third Prize winner of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Competition, recipient of a 2026 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and First Prize winner of the 2024 Walter W. Naumburg International Cello Competition. Dubbed "the storyteller" and "a daring prince" during the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Leland has been praised by RTBF as "one of those artists who defy analysis, because words simply cannot describe the powerful emotions they evoke."
Highlights of Leland's 2026–27 season include concerto appearances with the Kendall Square Orchestra and the Apollo Ensemble of Boston, as well as chamber music performances at Shriver Hall, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Newport Classical, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Wigmore Hall. Previous engagements include concerto appearances with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, and DuPage Symphony, along with recital performances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and Merkin Hall. A devoted chamber musician, Leland is a member of Trio Rai, the OAK Trio, and the Phaidros Quartet.
Special Collaborations
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As part of the CAG on Tour program, OAK Trio is a new ensemble comprising prize-winning soloists pianist Evren Ozel, violinist Nathan Amaral, and cellist Leland Ko, all alumni of the New England Conservatory. The Trio program, entitled Common Spirit, seeks to explore unique cultural songs and dances - each culture’s way of capturing and affirming the spirit of its people. Here is a link to their program.
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The Phaidros Quartet is the junction of four unique, sensitive, and sincere individuals, founded not just out of love for the genre, but out of a devotion to something deeply human that exists just as much as an experience shared between people as it does as notes encoded on a page.
The quartet debuted at the renowned Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and is comprised of violinists Stephanie Zyzak & Claire Bourg; violist Zhanbo Zheng; and cellist Leland Ko. Please click here for program details.
Click here to watch performances of the Beethoven String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 and Stravinsky Three Pieces for String Quartet.