Who I am…
Leland Philip Ko (1998- ) is the kind of person who’s always had an overflow of energy. His restlessness has led him to various callings, from competitive tennis and distance running to calligraphy and origami, but so far he’s found that making music with and for others — and the process that goes into that — are the things that best focus his mind, and that this restlessness is what gives him an almost stubborn desire to experience something with his audiences and colleagues every time he walks out on stage. Though he has chosen to dedicate himself to classical music, he does his best to remember and live by a former mentor’s advice that music is about life, not the other way around.
A cellist of Chinese-Canadian descent, yet born and raised in the Boston area, Leland has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in venues across America’s east coast, such as Merkin Concert Hall and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and Sanders Theatre in Boston, as well as internationally in Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Israel, and Spain, including Auditorio Manuel de Falla in Granada. Violinist Itzhak Perlman has described Leland as someone that “plays with the beauty of sound and subtlety that we don’t often encounter in a cellist of his age,” someone who is “a musician who willingly considers all aspects of music.” He is a laureate of the Bader and Overton Canadian Cello Competition, the Windsor Festival International String Competition, and the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank auditions, as well as a first prize winner of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition, Hong Kong Generation Next Arts International Music Competition, the Concours Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and most recently the Concert Artists Guild Louis and Susan Meisel Competition and the Walter W. Naumburg International Cello Competition.
The 2024-2025 season sees Leland making appearances with the Roswell Symphony under John Farrer, the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts Festival Youth Orchestra under Andrew Ling, the Apollo Ensemble of Boston under Elias Miller, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Thomas de Luc-Moreau, and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra under Benjamin Zander; recitals at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montreal, the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center in Florida, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago; and chamber music for NEC First Mondays, Core Memory Music and Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series with Trio Rai, and his first appearances as a member of ensemble132 in New Haven and Baltimore. Past engagements over the last decade have included concerto appearances with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Arlington Philharmonic, the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton University Orchestra, the Adelphi Orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and multiple appearances with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Farmington Valley Symphony 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 and occasionally appearing as a guest member with orchestras like the Boston Ballet or touring with Sejong Soloists in New York and Korea, Leland has sought out chamber music throughout his life, having attended 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. Through these festivals, Leland has had the chance to study with and occasionally perform alongside artists such as Ronald Leonard, Merry Peckham, Joel Krosnick, Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Marcy Rosen, Ralph Kirshbaum, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Ida Kavafian, Ara Gregorian, and Itzhak Perlman. 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. As of September 2023, he is the cellist of Trio Rai.
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 graciously supported by Marilyn G. and Joseph B. Schwartz. He resides in Boston, with his 13-year-old cat, Ham.
Updated as of May 2025.