Born in Davis, California, Korean-American cellist Eunghee Cho was awarded Second Prize and the special award for Outstanding Chinese New Piece Performance at the Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China. He has also earned top prizes in the USC Solo Bach Competition, the Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition, MTNA National Chamber Music String Competition, AEMC International Chamber Music Competition, New England Conservatory’s Honors Ensemble Competition, and Sacramento Philharmonic League JAMMIES Concerto Competition.
He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras around the country including the Sacramento Philharmonic, Cape Symphony, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Symphony by the Sea, Davis Symphony, and Sacramento State Symphony Orchestras. He held the Joyce & Donald Steele Chair as Principal Cello of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra from 2016-2021 and frequently performs as Principal Cello with Boston Festival Orchestra, Cape Symphony, Unitas Ensemble, and Symphony by the Sea. Eunghee has actively participated in classes at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival and Académie Musicale de Villecroze in France and has worked closely with distinguished musicians such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Doane, Colin Carr, Myung-Wha Chung, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, Tokyo, Orion, Brentano, Borromeo, and Shanghai Quartets.
As an avid chamber musician, Eunghee has collaborated in performances with artists such as Midori Goto, Inon Barnatan, David Shifrin, Maeve Gilchrist, Elton John, Keith Murphy, Alec Benjamin, François Salque, and with members of the Borromeo String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Calder String Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, A Far Cry, and Aaron Diehl Trio. He has also performed as a guest artist with A Far Cry, Da Camera Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento. Previous festival engagements include La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Taos School of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Keuka Lake Music Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival International d’Echternach, and Rencontres Franco Américaines de Musique Chambre in Missillac, France.
As a passionate adventurer of contemporary music, he has collaborated directly with composers in performances of their works including with Frank Ticheli, José Elizondo, Andrew Norman, David Froom, Michael Gandolfi, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Eunghee’s own arrangements have been commissioned and premiered by Sphinx Organization, New England Conservatory’s Cello Choir, Holes in the Floor, Rasa String Quartet, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Mellon Music Festival, and Music For Food.
Eunghee maintains a vibrant cello studio in Houston where he serves on the faculty at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. He has been invited to present masterclasses for Towson University, La Jolla Music Society, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Artis Naples, Royal Conservatory of Music, and Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, and is the Artistic Director of Mellon Music Festival in Davis, CA as well as the Houston Chapter of Music for Food.
Eunghee graduated magna cum laude and as a Steven & Kathryn Sample Renaissance Scholar from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and a Minor in Biology. He completed both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of distinguished pedagogues Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz. His previous instructors include Andrew Shulman, Andrew Luchansky, Richard Andaya, and Julie Hochman. Away from the cello, Eunghee enjoys neighborhood pick-up soccer, everything about dogs, and dawdling in local coffee shops.