Weston Middle Schooler to Solo at Boston Youth Symphony Concert

The following information is from the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.

Every year, talented young students from the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) participate in the annual BYSO Concerto Competition. The winner has the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the premier orchestra, Boston Youth Symphony (BYS), at the final concert of the season.

This year’s concerto competition winner is 13-year-old cellist, Leland Ko, who will perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme on Sunday, June 17, at 3 p.m. at Sanders Theatre at Harvard University with Boston Youth Symphony led by Conductor and BYSO Music Director, Federico Cortese

Cellist Leland Ko is an eighth grader at . This year marks Ko's sixth as a cellist with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. He began studying the cello at age three. He is a student of Paul Katz at NEC and Ron Lawry at  

Ko has won numerous other concerto competitions and performed as a soloist with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Boston Landmark’s Orchestra, Wellesley Symphony Orchestra among others. In 2013, Ko will perform with the Arlington Philharmoic as the winner of the Leonard D. Wood Award of the Young Artists Competition.

Ko has appeared twice on National Pubic Radio (NPR)’s “From the Top” Program as a soloist and a third time in 2011 with the BYSO Cello Quartet. When not practicing cello, Ko is a competitive tennis player who trains at the New England Academy of Tennis and competes regularly in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) tennis tournaments and is ranked in the boy’s 14 and 16-and-under Divisions in New England.

Under the baton of Music Director Federico Cortese, BYS will also perform Ligeti's Concert Românesc and Schubert’s  Symphony in C Major, “The Great”. The Repertory Orchestra (REP), under Conductor Mark Miller, will open the concert.

Tickets are $25 and $30, and discounted group, student and senior tickets are available by calling the Sanders Theatre Box Office at 617-496-2222. Visit www.BYSOweb.org for more information.