alice yoo | CELLO & CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Cellist Alice Yoo has been warmly hailed for her sensitive musicianship, expressive nuance, and passionate commitment to teaching. Co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival, the festival features the world’s most sought-after chamber musicians in thematic, world-class chamber music summer concerts all around the city.

A sought after chamber musician, Yoo has performed with distinguished artists including Itzhak Perlman, James Ehnes, Mitsuko Uchida, Dénes Varjon, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Midori Goto, Kim Kashkashian, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, Takacs, and Juilliard Quartets. Festival appearances include the Marlboro Music Festival and Musicians From Marlboro tours, Moab Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, VIVO Music Festival, and IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music. 

Previous teaching posts include faculty of chamber music and strings at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, guest cello professor at the University of Colorado- Boulder and Colorado State University, Guest Artist at the 2019 Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, and faculty of cello and chamber music at Bard College’s Preparatory Division. She is currently on faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Boulder Cello Festival. From 2012-2014, Yoo was a member of Ensemble Connect (ACJW), a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School of Music, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education.

Yoo has worked closely with the esteemed composers Sophia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Hidgon, György Kurtág, and John Harbison. She has given world premieres of acclaimed composers Samuel Carl Adams and Andy Akiho at Carnegie Hall. Solo appearances with orchestra include the USC Chamber Orchestra, Longmont Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, Billings Symphony, and the Bozeman Symphony. A native of Bozeman, Montana, Yoo’s principal teachers included Ralph Kirshbaum, Dr. Ilse-Mari Lee, Richard Aaron, and Paul Katz. She holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Yoo currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband, cellist Matthew Zalkind, and plays on a cello made in 2018 by Ryan Soltis. More information can be found at Aliceyoocello.com .