South Korean cellist Dr. Stella Cho grew up in the United Kingdom, where she made her London solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall at fifteen years old. Since then, she has concertized in South Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Croatia, and the U.S.A. She has been featured on national television and radio on numerous occasions. Stella was also selected as one of the Holland Music Sessions’ “New Masters on Tour” and gave solo recitals across Europe, including prestigious venues Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Slovak Philharmonic Hall in Bratislava.

Stella has participated in master classes with numerous distinguished artists including Frans Helmerson, Joel Krosnick, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Gary Hoffman and Timothy Eddy. Her major awards and achievements include winning Texaco Young Musician of Wales, USC’s Solo Bach and Concerto Competitions, Pasadena Fine Arts Club Award, and the Hattori Award.

As a passionate chamber musician, Stella has been part of several chamber ensembles; for her work with Accord Quintet, Stella was awarded the Honorable Mention Prize in the finals of the 2012 Coleman National Chamber Music Competition. As a founding member of the Huntington Quartet, she won the 2014 NEC Honors Ensemble Competition and has performed extensively in the New England area, including a successful debut in Boston’s historic Jordan Hall. As a member of Pacific Quartet, she won the inaugural Christine Marie Ofiesh Honors Ensemble Competition at USC in 2019, which led to performances at “Sundays Live” at LACMA and Rncontres Franco-Américaines de Musique de Chambre in France.

Stella has been invited to numerous renowned music festivals around the world, including Yellow Barn, Ravinia Steans Institute, Aspen Music Festival, Casals Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Banff Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, and IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music. She has also collaborated with eminent musicians such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Joseph Kalichstein, Joseph Silverstein, and Borromeo Quartet.

Dr. Cho earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with honors at the respected Gregor Piatigorsky Studio at USC’s Thornton School of Music under Ralph Kirshbaum and furthered her studies at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser. She recently completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at University of Southern California and was honored as the 2021 Outstanding DMA Graduate and inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honors Society.

Stella is a teacher and performer in the Los Angeles area. She holds positions as cello faculty at Loyola Marymount University and Fried Music. She was most recently appointed head of the LA branch for Junior Chamber Music. As an active performer, she regularly performs in the SAKURA Cello Quintet and Delirium Musicum Chamber Ensemble.