Praised for his “technical perfection and lyrical depth” (The Korea Herald), Kangho Lee is one of Korea’s most distinguished cellists, celebrated as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Since his orchestral debut at 12 years old with the Seoul Philharmonic, he has become a central figure in Korean classical music, performing with leading ensembles.  His performances including solo appearances with the KBS Symphony, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic, and Changwon Philharmonic, have been broadcast nationally live on KBS radio and widely acclaimed.

Internationally, Lee has represented Korea on a number of prestigious stages. Under the auspices of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has performed in Paris, Milan, Rome, and Geneva, and has given solo and chamber concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. He has also appeared at major festivals such as the Kirishima International Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival and Seoul Spring Festival.

As Professor of Cello at Korea National University of the Arts, Lee has mentored prizewinning students at top competitions, including the Tchaikovsky, Geneva, Paulo, Isang Yun, Washington International, Schoenfeld and Enescu competitions. 

Lee holds a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College, an MM from the Yale School of Music, and a DMA from the New England Conservatory.

Young-Uk Kim earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Korea National University of Arts studying under Sung-Ju Lee, and subsequently completed the Meisterklasse program at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München under Christoph Poppen.

Young-Uk Kim has won first prizes in various international competitions including INTERNATIONAL JEUNESSES MUSIC COMPETITION (2011) in Belgrade, Dong-A Music competition (2008) and Kookmin Daily Newspaper competition (2003) in Seoul. He also received awards at Isangyun international music competition (2011) in Tong Young, Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition (2013) in Augsburg, Canetti International competition (junior division) in Italy and so on. 

As a member of the NOVUS String Quartet, he has achieved remarkable success for an ensemble originating from a country with relatively few professional string quartets. Since its foundation in 2007, the NOVUS Quartet has brought new honor to Korea by becoming the first Korean ensemble to earn major international recognition, including third prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition (2008), the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition (2009), and the Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition (2012), as well as second prize at the 61st ARD International Music Competition (2012), one of Germany’s most prestigious classical music competitions. Most recently, the NOVUS Quartet won the string section of the 11th International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 2014.

Young-Uk actively performs as a soloist with Munich Radio Orchestra, Kammerphilharmonie Berlin, Hungarian Chamber Philharmonic, Ukrainian Zaporizh Philharmonic, KBS Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, and Seongnam Symphony Orchesta. He performed with Bucheon Philharmonic for a European tour at Cologne Philharmonic Hall in 2019. He was on the stage of the Seoul Arts Center Symphony Festival (Gangnam Symphony) in 2021, and in 2022, he performed all Beethoven’s violin sonatas with pianist Jeung Beum Sohn three times (January, April, and August).

In 2024, he appeared as soloist with Collegium Musicum Seoul for the double cycle of Vivaldi & Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, and in 2025, he undertook a three-city duo recital tour with pianist Dasol Kim.

His Quartet, Novus Quartet, regularly performed and invited to the Berlin Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez Hall, Cologne Philharmonic, Munich Heracles Hall, Wigmore Hall in England, Vienna Musikverein, the Concert House and also the renowned festival in worldwide such as Musikfest Berlin, Musikfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Wissembourg music festival, Marvao festival and Chamber music Garden Suntory hall. In the 2022/23 season, the Novus Quartet was appointed as an Artist-in-Residence at Wigmore Hall in London, becoming the most frequently invited Korean ensemble in the hall’s history.

From the first album with the French label ‘Aparté’, he released the three albums with the same label including the ‘Death and the Maiden’ and the album with pianist Michel Dalberto in 2019. In 2022, the recording of the Shostakovich string quartet was released. Most recently, in February 2025, Novus Quartet released a Brahms album on the Aparté label.

Young-Uk Kim has been a professor at the Korea National University of Arts since 2022.

(Photo ©Shin-joong Kim)

Hong Kong pianist WONG Sze Yuen was known for his virtuoso and sensitive playing. WONG made his debut in New York Carnegie Hall Weill Hall in July 2017 with HKGNA and has given concerts in United Kingdom, United States and France. He appeared as soloist with Hong Kong Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, HKAPA Academy Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia APA. WONG has been a regular prize-winner in different piano competition worldwide. Awarded Grand Prize Winner of HKGNA International Music Competition 2016, First prizes of the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia (Tokyo, Professional Category), the International Competition Hamburg Composers – ICoM Piano Award in Germany and the 6th Asian Youth Music Competition. WONG studied with Gabriel Kwok at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and obtained his Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours. He furthered his study with Dmitri Alexeev at the Royal College of Music under a full scholarship by The Muriel, Lady Kadoorie Music Scholarship and graduated with Master of Performance with Distinction. WONG attended Aspen Music Festival, Mozarteum International Summer Academy, ICoM Piano Summer School in Hamburg and studied with Arie Vardi, Pavel Gililov, Anton Nel and Fabio Bidini. He has participated in masterclasses given by Dang Thai Son, Eliso Virsaladze and Michel Dalberto.