Korean-American violinist named concertmaster at Hamburg Philharmonic

Daniel Cho, a 27-year-old Korean American violinist, has been appointed as concertmaster at the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra.

String ensemble Sejong Soloists announced Wednesday that Cho had been selected as the concertmaster of the orchestra through an audition attended by the orchestra members and conductor Kent Nagano.

The orchestra based in Hamburg, Germany was founded in 1828. Nagano has been leading the orchestra as its chief conductor since September 2015. The American conductor is also the general music director of the Hamburg State Opera.

Cho was part of the Sejong Soloists’ academy program and later became the orchestra’s youngest member. He had his debut recital at the age of 16 at Carnegie Hall in New York and made his European debut at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

He studied at the Juilliard School under violinists Kang Hyo and David Chen. In 2017, he moved to Germany and earned his master’s degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, studying under Kolja Blacher.

Cho will join the orchestra starting with the 2021-22 season. A lifetime tenure will be decided after a year and a half.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)