Bio Category: 2627 fiddle virtuosity

HYUNKUN CHO

Cellist HyunKun Cho is from Gwangju (South Korea) and lives in Barcelona (Catalonia). He began playing the classical cello at 15 and graduated from the Korea National University of Arts with Myungwha Chung.

His path led him to the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied with Markus Möllenbeck baroque cello and received chamber music lessons with Prof. Mitzi Meyerson.

He continued his studies at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona with Bruno Cocset and Emmanuel Balssa for historical cello and Chamber music with Pedro Memelsdorff, and he did a specialized degree at the Geneva University of Music with Bruno Cocset.

HyunKun Cho has created various ensembles as a musical leader and played in others. He has been awarded several times, such as:

  • With the ensemble “La Prosperina”, they won the 1st prize for Early Music and the Audiences Award in Saarbrücken in 2010.
  • With the ensemble “Matis”, they won the 2nd prize at the International Telemann Competition for Chamber Music Ensemble of 2013.
  • He was awarded at the Berliner-Bach competition in 2013. The same year, he got a prize from the York Early Music Competition with Ensemble Nexus-Baroque and was invited to a musician residency in Ambronay.
  • In 2014, he won the Early Music competition in Yamanashi, Japan, with Camerata D’Amico, a classical period quartet.
  • As a soloist, he was awarded 3rd prize at the International Competition Musica Antiqua Bruges 2014.
  • With his new Ensemble Chorda Elegans, he participated in the Berliner-Bach competition 2018; he was awarded three prizes: 1st prize, audience prize, and best interpretation prize.
  • He won the 1st prize, audience prize, and special prize at the International Telemann Competition in 2019 in Magdeburg.

He has recently collaborated with Pedro Memelsdorff and his Arlequin Philosophe ensemble on their concert-seminar tour “Opera and Slavery in the French Caribbean” / “Kourou, Musica nel naufragio di un’utopia migratoria, Guiana francese 1763-1765” (2019-2024) in Venice, Potsdam, New Orleans, Wroclaw, Basel, and Berlin/Postdam; he has carried out coaching tasks for the musicians of the Freiburg Conservatory orchestra at its Early Music Festival, with Jean Christophe Dijoux (2023); and has published with Michael Form and the Au Pieds du Roy ensemble “Bach: Recovered Chamber Concertos” (2023). He has also collaborated on the seminars “Franz Schubert, ammiratore di Beethoven” (2023) with Pedro Memelsdorff and Andreas Staier, and “Pulcinella musico e filosofo. Arie e cantate comiche napoletane nel Settecento” (2023), with Pedro Memelsdorff and Pino De Vittorio. His most recent published work is “A la Mode Française” with Patrimonio Sonoro (2024).

ALAN CHOO

Violinist Alan Choo, whose performances have been described by The Straits Times Singapore as “an intoxicating brew of poetry and dare-devilry,” appears on the global stage as a leading soloist, chamber musician and historical specialist. He made his solo debut with Apollo’s Fire at the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals in 2017, and currently serves as Concertmaster and Associate Artistic Director for the ensemble. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s first professional period ensemble and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. In May 2019, he was invited as guest concertmaster and soloist with the Shanghai-based baroque ensemble, Shanghai Camerata. He has also appeared as a soloist with the FVG Orchestra (Italy), St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Orchestra of the Music Makers and more.

Alan is the recipient of the Early Music Award 2016 from Peabody Conservatory, the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence 2015, the Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award 2014, the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music 2014 and 1st prize in the National Piano and Violin Competition 2011, Artist Category. He has also given masterclasses and lectures in violin performance, performance practice and stage presence to college students at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Michigan State University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bowling Green State University, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

Alan holds a Doctorate in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University, as well as degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. His teachers include Julie Andrijeski, Risa Browder, Victor Danchenko and Alexander Souptel. His solo debut album with Apollo’s Fire, the complete Mystery Sonatas of Heinrich Biber, was released on AVIE Records in 2024 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Classical chart.

WEBSITE

DAPHNA MOR

Daphna Mor has performed throughout Europe and the United States as both a soloist and ensemble player. Mor’s “astonishing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune) has been heard in solo recitals in the United States, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland. She has performed as a soloist with the New York Collegium, the New York Early Music Ensemble and Little Orchestra Society, and as a member of the orchestra with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Mor was awarded First Prize in the Settimane Musicali di Lugano Solo Competition and the Boston Conservatory Concerto Competition, and has appeared in a duo with Joyce DiDonato on the singer’s promotional tour for the album In War and Peace. Devoted to new music, Mor has recorded on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and has performed the world premiere of David Bruce’s Tears, Puffes, Jumps, and Galliard with the Metropolis Ensemble. Also active in the world music community, Mor has performed in festivals and on stages worldwide, including New York’s Summer Stage and Munich’s Gasteig. She can also be heard on Sting’s album If On A Winter’s Night for Deutsche Grammophon. Mor serves as the Music Director of Beineinu, a New York initiative dedicated to the modern cultivation of Jewish culture, and is a performer and teacher of liturgical music of the Jewish diaspora. She leads programs for the Education Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ANNA O’CONNELL

Anna O’Connell is a soprano and harpist who works to recreate the lost traditions of the harpist troubadours. Her love of Celtic music was cemented by a visit to Ireland at a young age, where the fascinating mix of concerts (in a castle and in the streets of Dublin), monuments, and museums led her lifelong fascination with harps. She has researched the history of self-accompaniment with harps ranging from medieval to modern folk instruments. Her self-accompanied repertoire includes medieval, renaissance, and early baroque songs from Italy, Germany, and the British Isles. She is currently completing doctoral studies in Historical Performance Practice at Case Western Reserve University.

Anna has sung as soloist with the Hong Kong Early Music Society and the Maui Chamber Orchestra. In Cleveland, she sings with the Trinity Cathedral Chamber Singers and the Cleveland Chamber Choir. She holds degrees from the University of Southern California and Providence College. She studies voice with Ellen Hargis and Dina Kuznetsova, and historical harps with Maxine Eilander. Her Ithaca-based duo, Gothic Fire, specializes in Medieval and Renaissance music performed on rebec and harp.

WILLIAM SIMMS

William Simms is an active performer of early music. Equally adept on lute, theorbo and baroque guitar, he regularly performs with Apollo’s Fire, The Washington Bach Consort, Tempesta di Mare, Modern Musick, Ensemble Vermillian, Heartland Baroque and Three Notch’d Road. He has performed numerous operas, cantatas and oratorios with such ensembles as The Washington National Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Opera Lafayette, Opera Philadelphia and American Opera Theater. Venues include The National Cathedral, The Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center for the performing arts and The Barns at Wolftrap. Summer festival performances include Tanglewood, Caramoor and Ravinia. He has toured and recorded with The Baltimore Consort and Apollo’s Fire. His recording with Ronn Mcfarlane, Two Lutes, was CD pick of the week on WETA in 2012. He has recorded for the Centaur, Sono Luminus and Eclectra labels. Mr. Simms received his Bachelor of Music from the College of Wooster in Ohio and his Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He is Instructor of Guitar at Mt. St. Mary’s University and Hood College, where he is founder and Director of the Hood College Early Music Ensemble.

EMI TANABE

Violinist Emi Tanabe enjoys a multi-faceted career as a baroque violinist and a solo crossover artist. In addition to being a core member of Apollo’s Fire, she performs with the Haymarket Opera Company and Third Coast Baroque in Chicago. With Apollo’s Fire she has performed on tour across the U.S. and Europe. Her facility with world music styles and improvisation has led to many solo violin performances with Tango, Flamenco, Celtic, and Jazz ensembles across the country. She has appeared with such groups as the renowned Surabhi Ensemble, the GRAMMY®-nominated children’s music band Wendy&DB, and the theater/dinner production “Teatro ZinZanni.” Emi is a native of Japan, and holds degrees in violin performance from the University of North Texas and Roosevelt University.

ANDRÉA WALKER

ANDRÉA WALKER, soprano is hailed as “luminous” and “ethereal” (Washington Classical Review). Dedicated to heartfelt and dramatic historically informed performance, she sings across the country with ensembles including GRAMMY® Award-winning orchestra Apollo’s Fire, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Pegasus Early Music, NYS Baroque, Harmonia Stellarum Houston, and Ars Lyrica. As a recitalist, she has performed alongside keyboardist Mikhail Grazhdanov (Duo CPE) at the Early Music Seattle Beyond Baroque festival, Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards, Boston Early Music Festival, and Early Music America Summit. Other recent solo engagements include her Lincoln Center debut in Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts with Masaaki Suzuki/Juilliard415 and the 2025 Carmel Bach Festival where she was a Virginia Best Adams vocal fellow. Andréa received a Doctorate of Musical Arts in historical performance practice from Case Western Reserve University and holds degrees in vocal performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and University of Houston.

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)