Bongshin Ko - cellist
Hailed by critics for her “most perfect playing” (Internet Cello Society) and for performing with “great warmth and beauty” (The Strad), cellist Bongshin Ko has appeared worldwide as a soloist with distinguished ensembles including the Munich Chamber Players, the Television and Radio Symphony of Moscow, the KBS Korean Broadcasting Symphony, the Zagreb Philharmonic, and the Central Broadcasting Symphony of China. She has also appeared as a soloist at major venues including Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, among others.
In 1992, she was honored as the first Korean artist invited to perform in China following the historic resumption of diplomatic relations between Korea and China, and she has since returned by annual invitation. Ko has collaborated with many of the world’s most celebrated artists, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Bernard Greenhouse, Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Stein, Gunther Schuller, Semyon Bychkov, and Valery Gergiev.
In 1997, she appeared with the Korean Symphony at the Seoul International Music Festival, presenting the Asian premiere of Bernard Rands’ Cello Concerto, composed and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich in celebration of his 70th birthday.
She has been featured at numerous international festivals and events, including the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Kronberg Cello Festival, the Berlin Wall 10th Anniversary Concert, and the Rostropovich & Friends Concert in Germany, as well as engagements throughout France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Monaco, Croatia, the United States, Korea, China, Japan, and Indonesia.
As a recipient of more than 30 international prizes and awards—including the highest performance honor in her native Korea and the Crossroads Award in the United States for her “superior teaching” - she taught special guest artist master classes at prestigious schools including The Juilliard School, Mannheim Musikhochschule, Korean National University of the Arts, Nürnberg School for Music, and Bejing Central Conservatory. Ms. Ko is in great demand worldwide as both a performer and educator. She currently serves as President of the Bernard Greenhouse Cello Foundation and as Professor of Cello and Assistant Director at the California State University, Fullerton School of Music, while maintaining an active international performance career across four continents.