Hometown: Hong Kong, China

Bill Ko is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s degree with professor Hsin-yun Huang at the Juilliard School, New York. He won the first prize of Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year 2019 at the age of 15, raising his profile in the UK through performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival. Bill made his concerto debut with the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra when he was 16 under Maestro Glyn Oxley. 

He began his viola studies in the UK studying with Louise Lansdown, head of strings of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. As an avid chamber musician, Bill has been involved in chamber music festivals around the world, including Juilliard ChamberFest and Bowdoin International Music Festival the US; Ameropa in Prague; Sarasate Academy in Spain (where he was awarded the GEWA prize); Pienza and Schlern international music festivals in Italy. Bill has previously worked with maestros including Nobuko Imai, Veit Hertenstein, Thomas Riebl, Timothy Ridout, Lawrence Power, Dmitri Murrath, Victoria Chiang and Born Lau.  

As an orchestra musician, Bill led the viola section as the principal violist in the Aspen International Music Festival on a full-ride scholarship. Other engagements include a full-ride scholarship at the Tai-Pei International Music Academy and Festival, string leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the principal violist of the Birmingham City Youth Orchestra. As a baroque violist, Bill toured with the Juilliard 415 baroque ensemble, which recently performed in various cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin and Suzhou.