Canadian cellist Soo Bae, was recently praised by The New Yorker as “superb”, and by The Strad for being “rich and romantic with crisp incisive technique.” Recently honored in March 2009 as the musician of the month in Musical America Magazine, Ms. Bae is also a winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. In 2006, the Canada Council of the Arts awarded her First Prize in its Instrument Bank Competition, resulting in a three-year loan of the ca. 1696 Bonjour Stradivari cello. Earlier that same year, she became the first Canadian ever awarded a prize at the Adam International Cello Festival & Competition in New Zealand.

Ms. Bae appears as guest soloist with the Oakville Symphony, Kingston Symphony and Orchestra London in Canada and with the University of Chicago Symphony in the US. Recent concerto engagements include the National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada, Christchurch Symphony in New Zealand, New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, Scottsdale Symphony, Wartburg Symphony (IA), Ohio Valley Symphony, and Toronto’s Canadian Youth Symphony and Korean Canadian Symphony. She was also featured soloist with the Asian Youth Orchestra for its summer 2007 tour, performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations under the baton of Okku Kamu. Commencing at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, this eight concert tour included performances in Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.

Since her debut with the Korean Canadian Symphony at age eleven, Ms. Bae has concertized in Asia, Europe, Canada and the US, including such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and NY debut at Carnegie Hall. In addition, she was featured soloist for the closing ceremony of the Pablo Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, where she performed on Casals’ own instrument. Featured 2008-09 recitals include Washington Performing Arts Society, Festival Place in Alberta, and Symphony Space’s Thalia Theatre as part of CAG’s New Works Series, as well as an appearance at Barbes Bar and Performance Space in Brooklyn. Recent touring highlights include recitals at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL), Northeastern Illinois University’s “Jewel Box” Series and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (Utica, NY), the Telus Theatre in Alberta, Canada, the Asociación Nacional de Conciertos in Panama City and the CAG series at Long Island’s Patchogue Theatre.

Soo Bae recently recorded her CD for the Naxos label featuring all twelve solo caprices of cellist-composer Alfredo Piatti, which were compared to the Bach Cello Suites by the great Yehudi Menuhin and equivalent of the Paganini caprices for solo violin.

An avid chamber musician Ms. bae has played with members of the Guarneri and Juilliard string quartets among others and has toured with “Musicians from Marlboro” appearing in numerous chamber music festivals including Marlboro, Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Orford and Verbier. Thriving on innovative collaborations, Ms. Bae has also recently performed with jazz clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera and violinist/composer Mark O’Connor.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Soo Bae began her cello studies at the age of six and moved to Toronto two years later, where she enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music and her Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School where she served as assistant faculty under Joel Krosnick. Ms. Bae currently teaches at the Gordon College in Boston and runs and directs the Angelos Mission Ensemble Chamber music program in New Jersey of which she is founder and director. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.