de Blasiis Chamber Music Series: Exclusive Interview with Cellist Leland Ko
Leland Ko, Bio:
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.
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. He is the 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 debuts with the Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke and the DuPage Symphony, as well as at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Hall, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
Leland was born and raised in Boston before attending Princeton University (A.B.), the Juilliard School (M.M.), and the New England Conservatory (A.D.). He performs on a G. B. Rugeri cello, Cremona, c. 1710, ex-Denis Vigay, on generous loan to him from Canimex Inc.; his professional development activities are generously supported by Marilyn G. and Joseph B. Schwartz. He resides in Boston with his 13-year-old cat, Ham.
Leland Ko, Q&A:
GFS: What led you to your choice to make music your life focus?
LK: I’m not sure I know how to keep this answer short and sweet, but I’ll do my best! There are so many factors — for one, I think I was very privileged to grow up in Boston, with such good music education both in public schools and privately, so many youth orchestras, so many music camps in the New England area, and so many incredible cellists who were my age or a few years older — I consider myself lucky to have grown up around all of that where the path was possible, and I know I am lucky in ways that I don’t even realize. Secondly, I don’t know that I have a story like hearing xyz on the radio and deciding in that moment that I wanted to be a musician. The reasons for doing anything inevitably change over time — I didn’t have a cosmic reason for doing anything when I started the cello at the age of three; when I was a young kid it was probably enough that my teachers were giving me positive encouragement; when I was a teenager it was that all my friends were at music camps or in youth orchestras; by the time I was in college I had been lucky to have so many incredible musical experiences that I was unable to imagine a life without music; nowadays I know that on a personal level I am the kind of person who is always asking “why,” and music is a great vehicle for that endless search, and that on an interpersonal level I’m really curious about what speaks to people through live music. And I can’t wait to find out my reasons for choosing music to be the focus of my life when I’m in my 30s, then my 40s and 50s…
GFS: Why the cello? What influenced this choice?
LK: Simple answer, actually — my brother started violin at age 4, and I (age 2) would be in the back of his lessons playing with toy trains. I was a very hyper child, and my mom needed something to get me to focus — she asked my brother’s violin teacher what instrument I should play, to which she replied, “Anything but the violin!” My mother chose the cello, and that was that.
GFS: What music inspires you, and what do you listen to for personal enjoyment?
LK: I actually don’t listen to music very much — I mean, of course I do, but that’s usually in the category of studying something. It’s like asking a line cook if they like to cook when they’re not at work. I wish I were familiar with other musical genres, but I’m not (for no reason other than my own ignorance). I think a person can find inspiration in any music (or anything, really) if they’re looking for it.
GFS: What do you most love to do outside of your career as a musician?
LK: My first love was actually tennis — I don’t play so much anymore, but I’m still such a tennis nerd. I also ran marathons at one point, and I’ve since slowed down, but I still try to move a lot when I can. I also love to cook, I love to eat, I love to cook so that I can eat…
GFS: What do you value most from Mrs. Peltz’s instruction?
LK: So, I actually only studied with Mrs. Peltz from age 3 (when I began) to age 5. The truth is, I remember very little from that, but I will spend the rest of my life realizing how much I owe her. I think it’s miraculous that she was even willing to take on a 3-year-old to begin with, and my life has been for the better in a million ways because of it. I’d be more curious to ask her what it was like to have to teach a hyper little kid like me…
GFS: What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming performance at the de Blasiis Chamber Series?
LK: I feel lucky to be able to get on stage and share music with people every time, and this is no exception. The program Adria and I are playing is a very heartfelt program, and it is one that we will be playing a lot in the Fall (including at our Carnegie Hall debut in December!). I’m always so curious to see how every performance is different — of course, the notes on the page don’t change. Still, every hall, every audience, every time of year, and sometimes the performers are different, so there’s always a different kind of magic that happens. It almost feels like trying to capture lightning in a bottle…
Leland Ko, cello with pianist Adria Ye
de Blasiis Chamber Series
Sunday, September 21, 2025, 3 pm
Helen Froehlich Auditorium at the Hyde Collection
To purchase tickets for this performance, click here
To learn more about the de Blasiis Chamber Series, click here