biography

Cellist Katie Youn has been praised for her passionate, imaginative, and colorful sense of artistry. Katie has appeared in concerts throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall, Japan’s Suntory and Minatomirai Hall, Vancouver’s Orpheum Hall, and Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica. She has performed in festivals including Aspen, Banff, Beethoven Institute, Bowdoin, Orford and the Kronberg Academy’s Cello Festival.

Katie has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Borromeo, Muir, Arneis Quartets and Daniel Phillips, Barry Shiffman, Todd Palmer, Steve Drury and Bayla Keyes in concert. She had the opportunity to study with distinguished musicians such as Aldo Parisot, Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, Natalia Gutman and Franz Helmerson.

She is the founding member of San Francisco-based Shoreline Piano Trio. Formed in 2019, Shoreline Piano Trio has performed throughout the Bay Area and performs in concert series, including Stanford Hospital Concert Series and Fortnightly Music Club. Katie also regularly appears with the Chamber Music Silicon Valley, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and Sonnet Ensemble.

Her commitment to outreach programs has lead to being a founding faculty at Boston String Project, an educational string program for inner city students at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. In 2015, Katie created the Boston String Project Chamber Concerts, which gave the opportunity for Boston String Project students to share the stage with Boston University faculty and graduate students. Currently, she is a member of Sound Impact, an organization that brings music outside the concert halls and into schools, juvenile detention centers and to local communities.

Passionate about teaching, Katie is on cello faculty at Santa Clara University and has an active private cello studio in the Bay Area. Her students have been principal cellists and soloists in youth orchestras and have been prizewinners in competitions, including US Open Music Competition and Junior Bach Festival. She has held teaching positions at Boston University teaching non-major students, Belvoir Terrace, Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) String Quartet Seminar, and Jou Music Institute.

Born in Korea and raised in Canada, Katie began cello lessons at the Vancouver Academy of Music at the age of 7 with Judith Fraiser. She moved to Boston to earn her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the New England Conservatory under the guidance of Yeesun Kim. In 2013, Katie graduated Boston University with a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree under the guidance of Michael Reynolds. Her doctoral thesis was on “Exploring the Balinese Influence in Benjamin Britten’s Suite for Cello, Op. 72.”

Katie plays Oreste Martini’s cello made in 1935 and a custom-made bow by Benoit Rolland in 2019.